TransNet NZ charges ahead with EVs

 Wallbox – marketed by TransNet NZ here – has won four major awards at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 in Las Vegas.

The awards for Wallbox’s new V2H/V2G DC home charger (Quasar), which hasn’t yet arrived in New Zealand but could be here by the year’s end, were Best Charging Technology (presented by Electrek), Best Transportation Technology (from Engadget), Best Product Presented at the CES 2020 (from Newsweek) and One of the Best 11 products displayed at CES 2020 (from the Robb Report).

These awards prove Wallbox is an innovative company, striving to be the best every time, that it continues to lead the way in EV charging infrastructure and that Wallbox home chargers are recognised around the world as being the best in class, the company says.

The new Quasar DC bi-directional charger is already available overseas, and TransNet NZ is excited to be able to offer this solution to Kiwi customers in the future.

Wallbox was the first to offer a compact, wall mounted, DC bi-directional solution for the home, and this is the first time the Spanish company has appeared at CES.

The main award was presented by Engadget together with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), owner and organiser of CES.

All four awards recognise the Quasar charger as one of the most innovative products of the entire event, being the first two-way DC charger in the world designed for the home. The Pulsar Plus (already available here in NZ) also gained notable mention from Robb Report as being packed with a ton of intelligent features (think: Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, integrations with voice assistants, and the ability to start, pause or monitor charging from your connected devices).

In 2020, Wallbox starts its expansion to the North American market, with the first two products that will be available there: the residential chargers Pulsar Plus – already available in New Zealand – and the bi-directional charger Quasar.
“We are honoured by the awards that our Quasar charger received at CES this year,” Wallbox chief executive and co-founder Enric Asunción says.

“We have been recognised by industry experts competing against the best and biggest players in the automotive sector worldwide,” he says.

“We see this as a strong signal that our commitment to sustainable electric mobility, and the development of products that will help us to become independent from fossil fuels, is right.”

Chief technical officer and co-founder Eduard Castañeda adds: “Both our chargers as well as the MyWallbox platform are carefully designed to make charging electric vehicles simple for consumers so that everyone can take full advantage of the possibilities that electric vehicles offer to people, businesses and cities.

“But with Quasar we go even further. Two-way charging will allow EV batteries to be used to power homes, offices and even return energy to the grid in times of high demand. Until the launch of Quasar, this possibility was more theoretical than practical, since two-way chargers have been very large and expensive.”

Meanwhile, TransNet NZ has also been involved in powering up EnviroWaste’s six electric trucks, providing charging equipment.

Eight of the 22kW Wallbox charging stations were set up with load management and scheduled charging so the charging happens after the plant equipment is turned off for the day, TransNet e-mobility division manager Glenn Inkster says.

“With a combined battery storage of 1MWh of electricity, when and how we manage the recharging is extremely important,” he says.

Live monitoring ensures trucks are charging when they should, and the data can be used to fine tune the set up with minimal impact on the local electricity network, Inkster adds.“Quasar is a glimpse into the future, following on from the Wallbox range of AC charging stations which are already leading the pack with intelligent EV charging.” says Inkster.