North Carolina-based Atom Power has spent nine years developing what it calls a better, smarter circuit breaker.
Photographer: Rachel Jessen/BloombergEV Charging Is a Mess. This 4-Pound Box Could Help Fix It
Atom Power says its smart circuit breaker will make charging electric cars as cheap and easy as using Wifi.
For all its progressive politics, New York City is largely an EV charging desert. Home to about 2 million registered vehicles, the city has just 1,000 Level 2 public charging plugs — the slower stations that generally work overnight — scattered across 343 stations, according to the US Department of Energy. Fast-charging sites are even harder to find.
Parking isn’t really the problem — the city is full of garages and street-side spots — but electricity is. Every car charger requires a dedicated amount of available juice; put in enough chargers, and the power needed (the so-called demand load) climbs quickly. It’s enough of a logistical headache that the city’s developers have shied away from EV infrastructure, at least on a large enough scale to meaningfully drive adoption.