At the beginning of October, ChargeLab announced our intent to support orphaned Enel X Way commercial chargers. The following week, we provided an update on our first successful migrations. Today, we’re following up with another update on what we’ve learned about JuiceBox Pro EV chargers in the past 55 days.
Background
On October 2, 2024, Enel X Way announced that it was shutting down its North American EV charger business. The company initially said commercial chargers would lose all functionality on October 11. Enel X Way customers and the EV charging industry responded strongly. Customers indicated that they wanted the ability to migrate to an alternate charging station management system (CSMS), and many CSMS companies said that they were willing to step in to help. On October 10, Enel X Way provided an update that its server shutdown would be delayed until December 31, allowing two extra months for customers to migrate to another provider.
On October 29, 2024, a third-party liquidator held an auction for Enel X Way’s remaining North American inventory. While the auction was originally only for hardware, a list of Enel X Way software customers was later added and included in the October 29 auction. ChargeLab has contacted the auction winner and offered our services related to migrating JuiceBox chargers. As of today, there is no specific direction from the auction winner on when it might migrate existing Enel X Way software customers and what the associated costs will be.
ChargeLab’s response
ChargeLab responded rapidly in the first days following the announcement of the Enel X Way shutdown. We discovered that most JuiceBox Pro chargers were not running OCPP-compliant firmware, making migration more challenging than it otherwise would have been. Despite these challenges, ChargeLab helped many customers upgrade their JuiceBox Pro chargers to an OCPP firmware version and connect to ChargeLab’s CSMS. A few weeks later, ChargeLab built a translator to connect to JuiceBox Pro chargers using their native JuiceNet protocol, eliminating the need for firmware updates in cases where it is not possible.
ChargeLab's migration "war room" in early October
ChargeLab acted with speed and technical precision, helping over 100 customers continue operating their JuiceBox Pro chargers. In some cases, we even helped customers revive chargers that had not been functioning properly due to connectivity issues or challenges with the legacy Enel X Way back end.
We’re proud of our team’s work overcoming numerous technical challenges throughout this migration process. Some challenges included:
- Removing a dependency on Enel X Way’s Directory Service, ensuring migrated chargers will continue functioning even after the Enel X Way servers shut down
- Fixing power management, allowing load-balanced chargers to continue operating safely
- Fixing RFID functionality
- Building a custom migration app to dramatically reduce the number of on-site hours needed to migrate JuiceBox Pro chargers
- Working around many quirks of Enel X Way OCPP firmware
- Building a JuiceNet protocol translator so that chargers can be migrated even in cases where a firmware update is not possible
1,400+ commercial chargers migrated
As of today, we’ve enrolled 1,400+ Enel X Way chargers from 100+ customers to migrate to ChargeLab’s CSMS. The majority of these chargers have already been migrated, with the remainder moving over quickly. ChargeLab’s CSMS provides all the same features as Enel X Way’s legacy platform, plus more advanced capabilities and improved 24/7 customer support.
While Enel X Way’s server extension was a stroke of luck for JuiceBox Pro customers, timing remains urgent for customers who have not started the migration process yet. We are happy to say that ChargeLab has a robust migration process that is fully independent of firmware updates, the Enel X Way Directory Service, and other third-party factors. Still, customers hoping to migrate their commercial chargers should act swiftly, as migrating after December 31 may be more difficult.
Next steps
If your company has already chosen to migrate your JuiceBox Pro chargers to ChargeLab, thank you for your trust. We look forward to working together as your new software provider for EV charger management.
If you have commercial Enel X Way chargers that you would like to migrate before the December 31 deadline, please contact us today. ChargeLab’s current migration process is independent of Enel X Way servers and the auction results.
Contacts
press@chargelab.co
1 (800) 636-0986 ext. 210