![]() “Ehrenhalt and EV Safe Charge had the vision and foresight to create a simple and elegant solution that we believe will unlock the potential of the EV market,” Freeman added in a statement. The cost of retrofitting existing parking structures for EVs can be cost-prohibitive for operators and landlords, and it would be inefficient to install a sufficient amount of fixed-charging capacity to meet demand in every parking lot, Freeman said. Its financing has come from angel investors including Mountain View-based Sand Hills Angels.ĭrue Freeman, a Sand Hills Angels board member, said the firm invested in EV Safe Charge because it believed that the acceleration of electric vehicle adoption will result in a growing shortage of fixed-charging capacity. ![]() “That is very exciting for the sites where they now have a monthly fee going forward and they don’t have to have a huge cash outlay at the beginning,” he said.ĮV Safe Charge has raised about $1.5 million in private financing since being founded by Ehrenhalt in 2016. A demonstrator Ziggy electric vehicle charging robot at work. Ziggy takes the whole charging experience from being a capital expense to being an operating expense because the parking garage does not have to spend any money on charging infrastructure, Ehrenhalt continued. “Sites will also decide how they want to allow for access, and in most cases this will be done via an app.”Īs battery technology improves, the company can easily recycle existing batteries and replace them with new versions, he added. “For example a company may want to have some Ziggy units for employees only,” Ehrenhalt said. Its business model with Ziggy, however, is to lease the robot to parking lots and garages, event venues, restaurants and hotels, who will then decide who will have access to use the units. “Ziggy is perfect for the growing demand for easier charging solutions,” Lemmond said in a statement.ĮV Safe Charge still provides charging stations to residential and commercial customers. Some customers have already ordered Ziggy for their properties, including a Holiday Inn Express in Redwood City Opera Plaza, a mixed-use development in San Francisco and The William Vale, a luxury hotel in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.ĭavid Lemmond, the general manager of the Brooklyn hotel, said its guests and neighbors would benefit from the technology. He expects unites to be delivered in late 2023 or early 2024. The idea is to make them in the areas they will serve, he added. The Ziggy functional demonstrator robot has been built and is entering the next phase as it nears the manufacturing stage, Ehrenhalt said. ![]() “We will help guide sites every step of the way as they determine how they want to implement and use Ziggy.” “Some may want to subsidize the use of Ziggy and cover partial charging costs, for employees for example, and so on,” Ehrenhalt said. A site could also offer the service for free. ![]() When the customer returns to her car they’ll unplug Ziggy, which will then roll back to its home base for charging or be picked up and taken offsite.Ī driver would pay each time they use Ziggy at a price determined by the site owner. Ziggy shows up, the driver plugs in and then can go to work, shopping, the gym or somewhere else and will be notified when the charging is complete. How it works is very simple: a driver uses an app to have Ziggy come to their car or reserve a space for their vehicle. “Weight is concentrated at the bottom with the battery at the bottom, so it is very stable,” Ehrenhalt explained. The mobile robot uses all-wheel steering to ensure it can get up and down ramps, maneuver over speed bumps and turn tight corners. Ziggy will stand about 6 feet tall and operate on four independent wheels, and will have cameras on all four sides. So much so that he started the downtown-based company to provide electric charging stations, first in residential and then in commercial buildings.Īnd now he is pivoting again and getting into mobile charging stations with Ziggy, a battery on wheels.Īfter all, one of the barriers to mass electric vehicle adoption is charging anxiety, or the worry that a vehicle would run out of power before reaching a charging station. As the founder of EV Safe Charge, Caradoc Ehrenhalt is a big believer in electric vehicles.
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