ABB debuts stylish 'Terra Home' EV charger

Swedish-Swiss electrical and automation manufacturer ABB has revealed a sleek-looking home electric vehicle AC charger at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The ABB Terra Home features a compact squircle shape with the option of three swappable material covers – gloss white, gloss black and wood grain finishes.

There’s also LED light strip surrounds that indicate the state-of-charge status of the EV and adopts the Plug and Charge standard to start sessions immediately, without the need to fumble with a mobile app or tap an RFID card.

The wall box will launch later this year, but the company hasn’t detailed its maximum AC charging output speeds. It also isn’t capable of bidirectional vehicle-to-grid charging.

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The Terra Home can prioritise renewable solar electricity to charge from free off-grid juice, while dynamic load balancing allows it to adjust its output based on the household’s electricity usage to prevent a short circuit.

It’s also internet-connected to monitor its status via a smartphone app and receive over-the-air firmware updates, and ABB can even remotely service it.

Bloomberg NEF estimates 340 to 490 million EV chargers are needed globally by 2040, with home chargers set to represent 82 per cent market share.

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Currently, ABB sells the Terra 24kW AC wall box in Australia for commercial applications and Ampol’s AmpCharge fast charging network – which launched in August last year – uses the company’s Terra184 DC unit.

The Norway-born Zaptec Go home AC charger has a similar design approach with swappable colour covers.

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