Supporting Residential EV Charging While Minimizing Costly Electrical Upgrades

CHALLENGE

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) needed to validate solutions that could enable widespread home electrification without requiring costly electrical panel upgrades. For the millions of homes with 100A service, adding Level 2 EV charging and other electric appliances traditionally requires expensive panel upgrades, creating a significant barrier to adoption.

SOLUTION

Through laboratory testing at NREL's facilities, NeoCharge demonstrated how its smart load management system enables Level 2 EV charging and other electric appliances on existing 100A panels. The testing validated that NeoCharge's proposed monitoring and dynamic load control successfully keeps total power draw within 80% of panel capacity, in full compliance with electrical codes. When combined with circuit sharing technology like the Smart Splitter, this approach can save homeowners up to $3,575 versus panel upgrades while supporting grid reliability by eliminating unnecessary infrastructure modifications. For NREL, this validates a scalable solution that could enable cost-effective electrification of tens of millions of U.S. households using their existing electrical panels - particularly benefiting low and moderate-income communities.

Partnered with Redwood Energy and their innovative "Watt Diet" approach, NeoCharge was a winner of the Department of Energy's EAS-E Home Electrification prize.
energy.gov