Portable EV charger is coming
To combat range anxiety and allow electric vehicle owners to charge their cars and trucks, one Detroit woman came up with a nifty solution: Bring your charger with you. Ta.
(Fox 2) – As electric vehicle adoption continues on its rocky path to widespread adoption, a barrier remains: not enough facilities to charge the growing number of vehicles on the road.
But one Detroit resident found a solution. Proving once again why her home is called Motor City, even though there are no motors involved.
Standing next to BB's EV Charge Express large truck, Frederica Shields is outfitting her prototype as a portable charging station. She hopes fewer drivers will be stranded because they can provide power to vehicles.
“We have a 120,000-watt generator here,” she said. “If we're down, say, 50%, we can get up and running in about 20 minutes.”
Unless someone has access to a fast-charging station, it can take a long time to power the batteries needed to run an electric car. So not only will you receive a portable charger, but being able to power up your car quickly can be a huge boost.
Shields' work experience dates back to the food service industry, and when he came up with the idea for a charger on wheels, it required a leap of faith.
“It was a difficult decision, but I really believed in it and said, 'I'm going to take the plunge,' so it was something I had to do,” she said.
Luckily, as an electric car owner herself, she was already aware of the concept of “range anxiety.” Whether other EV owners were fighting for sport or struggling to charge their cars themselves, she had grown accustomed to the apparent lack of power.
But that was just the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey.
She sold her property, refinanced her home, and had enough cash to start BB's EV Charge Express.
After purchasing the truck and equipment, she sought knowledge on how to operate and repair the vehicle. The class was held at the New Lab in Detroit, a growing center for mobility research and a hub of knowledge about the vehicles of the future.
“I think they themselves were surprised and couldn't believe it. They said, 'Okay, we're saying we're going to do this and this isn't going to happen,'” she said.
The building is part of the Michigan Central campus that Ford opened to the public this summer. While there, Shields learned about a pitch contest for budding entrepreneurs that offered 40 people the chance to pitch their claims in just one minute.
Shields only had eight hours to prepare, but that was enough time for her idea to be accepted.
“Now that it has proven effective and we have funding, we will be purchasing a second new truck,” she said.
The business operates on a subscription model starting at $50 per month. Her goal is to serve not only daily drivers, but also corporate fleets, cities, and schools in the area.
For more information, please visit bbsevcharge.com/.
