ChargePoint Home is a gorgeously compact smart charging station, works with Nest
ChargePoint, one of the biggest players in the electric car charging, wants into your garage with the announcement of the ChargePoint Home.
- North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year (NACTOY) Awards Juror
LAS VEGAS -- If you drive an electric car, you're probably already very familiar with ChargePoint. Between its extensive network of public charging stations and its mobile app that helps to find them, ChargePoint is one of the biggest players in the EV charging game.
Now, with the announcement of the ChargePoint Home, ChargePoint wants into your garage.
The ChargePoint Home is a standard level 2 charger that plugs into a 240V outlet, which means that it can charge your EV significantly faster than just plugging directly into a simple wall outlet. However, the ChargePoint Home distinguishes itself in both form and function.
For starters, this is one of the smallest charging stations that I've ever seen. Most home charging stations are big, ugly boxes, but the Home's curvy, glossy chassis has an absolutely tiny wall-mounted footprint. Interchangeable charging cables allow the driver to choose between 12-, 18-, and 25-foot lengths, reducing clutter. A glowing indicator gives a quick visual heads-up about whether the station is charging the car or in standby.
That's the form; the extra function comes from the ChargePoint Home being a networked station. It has Wi-Fi built in, so the Home can be monitored from the ChargePoint app on the driver's smartphone. From the app, charging can be started, stopped or scheduled for cheaper off-peak power hours. Drivers can receive pushed reminders to plug in, if they've forgotten. And historical charging data (and costs) can all be viewed through the ChargePoint app and Web portal alongside usage of ChargePoint's public level 2 and Rapid Charging stations.
ChargePoint Home also networks with the Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect, which can enable quite a bit of automation. For example, the Home can automatically shut itself down when a safety alert or power overload is detected by the Nest system.
The ChargePoint Home will be available mid-year 2015. ChargePoint hasn't yet announced pricing.
Check out more of CNET's coverage of the cool tech that's been revealed at the 2015 CES.
