Electric vehicle owners can now track how much carbon is being emitted to charge their car and see if the power being used is generated from hydro, wind, solar, gas, or coal, in new technology released today.
The E2 is Christchurch-based Evnex’s next-generation smart charger and features carbon monitoring tools, the first commercial offering of its type outside the US and Europe.
Accessing live data, it measures the electricity grid’s carbon intensity and updates users.
It also gives EV owners the ability to track and measure carbon emissions from their previous charging sessions. These features will also be rolled out for free to existing Evnex chargers.
Evnex founder and CEO Ed Harvey said swapping petrol cars for EVs is only part of meeting New Zealand’s carbon-neutral goals.
Evnex founder and CEO Ed Harvey
“An EV isn’t a zero-emission car if fossil fuels are burnt to power it. Clean charging – using electricity generated from renewable sources – enables drivers to reduce their footprint and take better care of the climate. As NZ’s EV fleet grows, we should charge EVs using clean energy to fully maximise their impact,” he said.
Around 80 percent of New Zealand’s energy is generated from renewable sources, but this can fluctuate depending on demand.
Evnex uses data from Energy Market Services, which provides carbon intensity information every 30 minutes. It then tracks charging against these periods, which provides an overall measure of charging emissions.
“People can see exactly where their power is coming from and make real-time decisions to pause or even defer charging if more energy than usual is being produced from fossil fuels. Looking forward, we are hoping to use the data we gather to automate charging, so it happens when electricity is at its cleanest.”
Two years in development, Evnex’s new E2 charger is NZ-made and made from 70% bio-circular plastic.
It has a power rating of 7.4kW and comes with a five-metre tethered cable.
It also has a unique ‘Charge Now’ function which enables users to override pre-set charging schedules with the tap of a finger rather than logging into an app on their phone.
