Hyundai announced during this week’s LA Auto Show a new method for customers to charge their phones at home as part of Hyundai’s efforts to attract the next generation of electric vehicle customers.
Hyundai Home, as the name given by Hyundai, has solar panels, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging for Hyundai owners. In addition, Hyundai announced an alliance with Electrum, a solar panel, and a home battery and heat pump installer that will assist customers across 16 states to find the appropriate energy installers and systems to meet their EV charging requirements. With this new alliance, customers from Arizona, California, and Colorado and Washington can now work with Electrum experts to determine the most affordable and efficient power solutions for their needs.
Prior to the announcement this week, dealers were helping customers reach out to local installers and power providers for storage and charging setup for the new Hyundai electric vehicles, such as Ioniq 5.
“With Hyundai Home, we’re trying to bring democratization to the charging process for electric vehicles, not just charging and being able to use electric vehicles and the entire system surrounding it. We’re trying to make it simple for our customers to switch to solar to store energy and eventually to use all of these systems to lower their energy bills,” said Tupper
Making charging for electric vehicles more accessible
In the meantime, as the U.S. increasingly makes an effort to cut carbon emissions, particularly those that come from tailpipes, states such as California have banned sales of gasoline-powered vehicles until 2035.
It is said that a growing number of Americans are likely to consider electric vehicles and hybrids, PHEVs, as their next car purchase. However, rentals comprise about 1/3 of American housing, as per U.S. Census data, and most homes are older. This means that to have access to home charging, the landlords must invest in upgrading their panels and providing charging options in multi-family garages.
Upgrading the electrical panel to charge an automobile at home is between $1,300 and $3000, and even more. Add this to the price of battery-electric hybrid and plug-in electric cars, and many individuals won’t be able to afford home charging, specifically those living in multi-family homes that don’t have access to charging at home. This is something that Tupper claims Hyundai is considering, but he needs to provide specific details regarding any plans.
Tupper states that Hyundai has been working with partners such as Electrum to provide additional charging and power storage options to customers outside the 16 states that Electrum currently serves.
“We’re just starting out,” Tupper stated, “Our guiding principles are that customers do not just receive the best items, but they also receive the correct products at the right cost. Electrum assists the client find the ideal solution in the market and, in this way, we’re capable of offering significantly better value over what they’d typically get through an individual retailer.”
