Irish startup tackles irksome EV roadblock

An Irish EV charging startup believes it knows how to overcome one of biggest hurdles on the road to electrified transportation.

Go Eve's solution for the world's insufficient infrastructure is to allow a vast number of vehicles to recharge from a single DC fast charger using its so-called DockChain technology.

DockChain works a bit like the multi-outlet power strip you probably have your computer, smartphone and printer plugged into at home.

Go Eve co-founder and CEO Hugh Sheehy said the secret sauce is the company's patented system that controls all the interactions between the cars and the charger.

That includes a smart on/off switch that allows the charger to stand down until it is needed.

The solution comes an an opportune time.

A scathing report in May 2021 from the European Court of Auditors on the EU's support for public charging infrastructure found that "the lack of charging" is holding back EV adoption.

"The EU is still a long way off its ambitious Green Deal target of 1 million charging points by 2025, and it lacks an overall strategic roadmap for electromobility," the report found.

A consumer-friendly charging network may have an impact on EV uptake, experts who have studied the issue say. Interest in buying an EV is generally highest in countries with the most charging points, the most points per vehicle and the most powerful network.

Go Eve's technology was originally developed at University College Dublin and is being further developed with UCD and Imperial College London.

The system can be programed to charge cars in a particular order or by a particular amount. Sheehy says DockChain provides the speed of DC when needed as well as the cost effectiveness of AC.

He said a pilot program together with a fleet operator could start as early as this month, and that by early 2023 Go Eve hopes to have its first installations done in Europe, with the U.S. getting the technology in the second half of 2023.

Sheehy said Go Eve is already speaking with city officials in Europe and the United States as well as large hotel chains about its solution.

"Every time I have done a cold call to measure a potential user's interest, whether that be a municipality or a hotel chain or a high-end apartment building looking to offer recharging to a large number of people, the person on the other end of the line has told me they want the system now," Sheehy said. "I've never experienced anything like that in my life. We can make electrification faster, cheaper and operationally easier for all the fleet operators, parking operators and even light public transport operators in the world.”

Sheehy also had this to say about the AC charging: "It's for the birds." Which is a nice way of saying it's a complete waste of time because it's too slow. He firmly believe DC charging is the only long-term answer to the world's recharging needs.