JuiceBox (Enel X Way USA, LLC) shuts down business in North America

[phil]

I think you are being optimistic that it will be that much or that soon.

When the sky is a bright canary yellow
I forget ev’ry cloud I’ve ever seen—
So they call me a cockeyed optimist,
Immature and incurably green!

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[Kmp14]

So for those of us not very electrically inclined; my charger has operated as a dumb charger essentially since I've had it and I let the MME decide when to charge. I see post about changing Amperage. Why? How do I know what mine is set at and do I need to change and if so how? Please dumb down the responses....Not an engineer.

I usually run mine a 20 amps since I don't drive a ton, and therefore my 12V battery does not get charged a lot. I have learned on this forum that the 12V battery also charges when charging the HVB, so charging slower (lower amps), also means more time charging my 12V. Am I overthinking it? Yes I am! If you have never changed yours, it will likely be at 40 amps. It is in the settings in the Enel-X way app, while still available.

 

[Tha_Ape]

Silly, but apt, comparison... I have a PetNet auto pet feeder. Similar thing happened to them, abruptly stopped service. I had taken my device out of auto feed mode and made it dispense 2xs as much food when I pressed the manual button prior to their abrupt service stoppage. (There were reasons but they aren't important to this anecdote).

It's been stuck like that ever since. People have tried to come up with work arounds. I'm upset I disabled the scheduled feeding, but at least it dispenses a lot when I press the button so it's slightly useful.

Hopefully someone will figure out a way to hack into the juice box... with the petnet dispensers, some ppl use arduinos to trigger the manual button. I just bought another auto feeder, but we're talking about a $20 product. I'd imagine there's more will to find a solution for a product that costs $100s of dollars.

If not, the Tesla universal wall charger is great, it comes with NACS (of course) and a built in J1772 adapter. Plus it can (apparently) do bi directional charging with the right equipment and it's not very expensive, $550.

 

[Aye Aye Ron]

Just got the same email. A bit pissed off.

Only 'a bit POed'?
I want to take my chargers (3 of them) and slap the ceo with them for a bit and get my money back!

 

[Aye Aye Ron]

Class action suits? Against who? Company is shutting down...

class action suit againt Enel of Italy as I gather that's where the ultimate decision to shut down came from.

 

[Aye Aye Ron]

“Hope the class action lawsuits are already being drafted”
To do what?

I want my money back.
Enel Italy is still running.

 

[hartmms]

Too bad there's not a consumer rights law that states if a business exits shutters online services for a physical device (including going out of business), they must open source the software on the device and provide a method to reprogram it. Maybe future versions of the right to repair laws will consider this.

 

[TheSteelRider]

This is a real shame, but IMHO, they did it to themselves. They tried to "reinvent" themselves a couple years ago and grow rapidly instead of simply maintaining a high level of quality and customer support. That app switch last year was one of the final nails in the coffin.

Let this be a lesson for future companies to not abandon your customers and leave them with broken equipment.

 

[RonBme]

Dear Enel X Way USA, LLC Stakeholder,

After careful consideration, Enel X Way North America has decided to close its electric mobility business in the US and Canada, operated by the local subsidiary of Enel X Way USA, effective October 11, 2024. An experienced third-party firm will be appointed to manage the company’s affairs and ensure that the closure is handled with the utmost care and professionalism. The appointed firm will be responsible for managing the remaining obligations and communicating directly with customers and partners regarding the closure.

This decision is in line with the Enel Group’s strategic approach to e-mobility that pursues further growth by providing bundled offers, including private charging solutions, to its electricity customers as well as by developing public charging infrastructure in countries where it has an electricity retail business. By contrast, Enel North America has no retail electricity customer base and was active in the e-mobility segment only through the sale of charging hardware and software.

Additionally, the dynamics of the EV market in the US have changed quite a lot in the last year and, like many other companies, Enel X Way North America has been impacted by high interest rates which have increased the cost of scaling the charging infrastructure business in a framework of sustained uncertainty where EV sales growth expectations have not been met.

Here’s what you need to know:​

• Residential charging hardware (JuiceBox) will maintain the physical operating ability to charge vehicles.
• All Enel X Way software will be discontinued. Commercial charging stations will lose functionality in the absence of software continuity.
• The Enel X Way App and all other Enel e-mobility apps in North America will be discontinued and removed from the App Store.
• Enel X Way customer support is no longer available, effective immediately. Any Enel X Way related questions and claims should be directed to juiceboxnorthamerica.com.
• The decision to close Enel X Way USA, LLC and related impacts do not apply to Enel X Way customers in other countries outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Enel X Way North America understands that its decision has implications for those who had chosen its charging solutions. Inquiries regarding any outstanding matters, including customer accounts, orders, or obligations, can be directed to juiceboxnorthamerica.com.

North America remains a core geography for the Enel Group, where it will continue to focus investments in utility-scale renewables and demand response.​

I feel that this company made a profit. Took your money and ran with it. Wants to give no tech support. No reliable, anything not even sell anymore and their excuses EVS are just not selling well Data shows otherwise.

 

[J5hort]

While I feel bad, and a similar thing happened to me with my Wink home automation hub, I never felt the need to use anything other than the supplied mobile charger that came with the Mach-e. If anything another one so I do not have to remove it from the wall when I want to use it elsewhere. Bit that process only saves me 2 minutes of my life.

 

[Vulnox]

We had the first gen Juicebox 40 where it was just a stainless steel box with essentially markings that we charged our 2016 C-Max with. That thing worked through years with the C-Max and Focus Electric and a little while with the MME. I sold it to get the ChargePoint Home Flex since our electric company offered a rebate with an EV purchase.

That first unit was solid and I suspect the person that bought it is still using it without issues aside from this software decom.

But that first unit was a different company than when EnelX took over and the app seemed to get worse and worse. I feel for people that bought the home units and while I usually don't fret over businesses too much, it's a real dagger to EV adoption for businesses that spent hundreds of thousands to install EnelX DCFC just to have all support dropped.

I hope some of the EVSE companies offer recycle and trade in programs for JuiceBox units where you get a significant discount on a different unit and they also dispose of all that material properly.

 

[azerik]

Sadly I’ve never seen a trade in that was worth it. I have 3 ESVE’s in various configurations that are door stops really. Even recycling seems to cause more issues that it’s worth.

 

[AllTheThings55]

So for me this integration is working great for everything except changing the max charging current (amperage), which is the feature I really need. I think I'm on incompatible firmware. I can see that there's active development happening again so maybe it just needs a little more time.

I’m pretty sure the proxy pass is just receiving the status of the JB, it doesn’t allow you to make changes.

 

[awp0]

I’m pretty sure the proxy pass is just receiving the status of the JB, it doesn’t allow you to make changes.

Yeah I was referring specifically to the "juicebox_commands" branch, which is in active development and should allow us to change the amperage. I still can't really get it to work, but the developer of this branch is enhancing it every day so I'll just wait a bit. Hopefully it'll be merged soon so everyone can try it out easily.

 

[vsguru]

I wonder what all “software discounted” means. I can’t change settings on my charger or no more updates. ?‍

The software is "discontinued" not "discounted", although I'm sure they'd probably sell all of it to you at a very reduced price!

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