The Juicebox and Enel X shutdown: What comes next?
Earlier this month, the Italian energy company Enel X announced an abrupt withdrawal from the North American market. For its residential customers-owners of the popular Juicebox level 2 home chargers-the physical hardware will continue to work, but from tomorrow Enel X will have ended all software support, including updates and its apps. But Enel X also had commercial clients, and they're even more out of luck-from tomorrow those stations "will lose functionality in the absence of software continuity," Enel X says.
JuiceboxFor Juicebox customers, the loss of Enel X's servers and apps isn't great-they will lose the ability to remotely manage the charger, or schedule charging sessions from it. But most electric vehicles-both battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs-have their own built-in software to schedule charging sessions, and to hear some owners tell it, Enel X's software was a poor substitute for the original Juicebox software written by eMotorworks, which was bought by Enel X in 2017.
Whether owners still have any kind of warranty support remains up in the air. A community of volunteers called Juice Rescue has put together a guide on preparing for the shutdown tomorrow. This includes useful advice like making a note of the device's Juicebox ID and double-checking that the charger's maximum capacity is correctly set for its circuit.