Well, that post has hit the floor with a thud.

The Government has passed legislation making Smart EV chargers compulsory, chargers that simply switch on and off are forbidden in new installations.

So what happens to the Back Office and software updates if the manufacturer goes out of business?

I suspect that there is silence as no-one really knows, it is not as if the software interfacing to EV chargers is standardized through any central service or even uses a commonly agreed  protocol - in some ways it makes the SMETS1 smart meters debacle look almost sensible. There is already  a lot of orphaned internet connected stuff out there, so far mostly small domestic things like TVs and doorbells,  but I see  the problem of things trying to call back to a none-existent server at the mother company will only increase with time.
There seems to be an assumption that providing a service over the internet is almost free, but as many companies are finding out, it really isn't and at the same time users are slowly finding out that when it stops it is at least a pain and maybe a total  showstopper.
Mike.

Hopefully the basic functionality (plug in and switch on) should continue even if all the remote systems disappear. The lack of firmware update if anything might aid reliability, as it's often changes that introduce new problems. I suspect legislation wise, as long as the unit had the required smart functionality at the point of installation, the boxes are ticked and everyone is in the clear. If things like scheduling charging times to suit variable tariffs are lost and can't be handled in some other way (e.g. by the vehicle itself) then some will feel the need for a replacement charge point. Hopefully we should see prices start to fall as development costs start to be spread over many more units - £500 for an RCBO, contactor, connector and less electronics than on a RaspberryPi in a plastic box doesn't feel entirely justifiable.

   - Andy.

I changed the batteries in a domestic energy storage unit around six or seven years ago for the manufacturer, they sent me an engineers manual by email to flick through and it actually had a Radpberry Pi in it as the battery management unit.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled off the motorway at Solihull to go to the Apple Store to buy a new IPad, because my old one had updated to IOS 12.5.6 and stopped at that, but I couldn’t use the Santander Banking app because it needs a minimum of IOS 14.0 and other banking apps from Lloyds were starting to lose functionality.

Yesterday afternoon I pulled off the motorway and went to my Currys store to buy a Roku TV streaming device to plug into our Panasonic Smart TV which no longer has support for the ITV Hub, so is losing its Smart capabilities.

I suspect that a Smart EV charger has a life expectancy of less than ten years, without software support I do wonder if some of the Andersen chargers will still be usable next year.

Now, yesterday whilst I was driving up the motorway I was listening to this weeks Fix Radio Electrical Show on catchup, streaming from my mobile phone via Bluetooth to the ten year old radio in my van.

www.fixradio.co.uk/.../

The discussion was the second part of a discussion with a guy from Schneider about Electricity 4.0 as they have tagged it (I would say four point zero, not four point ooooooh!) with everything electrical being controlled by a chip and software. 

https://youtu.be/n3LR7d-h4BU

We seem to be going through what could be a seismic change, with current digital tech becoming obsolete and unusable, whilst being encouraged to move to even more reliance on digital tech with even equipment such as a simple circuit breaker now being being made with a chip to control it and a reliance on firmware. Yes, you can remotely interrogate them to check on their performance and that of the installation, but is it truly sustainable in the long term, how will these devices be fit for purpose for?

Interestingly,  in my local Currys there were only five cameras on a very boring display, I presume that most people are now using Smart phones for photography and videos, but they also had five turntables for playing vinyl records.

Going back to the Andersen EV chargers, assuming the circuit supplying them has been installed correctly, it should be a straightforward job to swap the charger unit for one from a different manufacturer if needs be, but second time around customers are going to be a bit wary when it comes to choosing a replacement.

 I have just been considering what might be seen on an EICR in the year 2032.

Condition of installation- Unsafe to use, urgent upgrades to the firmware of the protective devices required or replacement of the devices.

Observations- Arc Fault Detection Devices firmware and software no longer supported. Code 2.

Limitation- Incomplete testing and inspection of installation due to being unable to download information from the protective devices.

I'd argue that for this to work, you'd need DIY support. 

I do know of an arduino based EV charger, and let's be honest, there's not that much tech in them that makes this 'smart' 

There's also an argument of why are they so expensive, if they can be made much cheaper.

If you are arguing for makers to publish a bit more about what is inside their kit, how it works and to agree interface specs then I would agree that from a benefit the planet, and the user, that would be wholeheartedly sensible. Unfortunately it goes strongly against the commercial grain which tends to favour closed source bespoke and even if it is simple inside, not making it easy  to get into. result of course is more scrap - and it is silly really as it works both ways - a maker is just as able to benefit from work done on a pre agreed standard and maybe even a pre- agreed platform, than they stand to lose from developing their own from scratch and keeping it secret.

Mike

 Aaron O'Sullivan (5a3c238eb1095951b1ae791a1fb996fd)  mapj1 

This does go into the Right to Repair territory, but actually goes a bit further because if the original manufacturer has gone bust spares and repairs are no longer available or possible using Original Equipment Manufacturer parts, as well as there not being any IT support.

At least John Deere are still in business, however they are restricting the Right to Repair your own equipment, leaving customers hacking tractors and suing them as the manufacturer.

www.theregister.com/.../

Anderson were an up market outfit trying to appeal to a wealthy niche market. David the MD came from a HIFI background, hence the aesthetic bias. I struggled to get them to discuss the o pen fault part of there kit which they insisted was sorted. I gave up with EV after that plus the 6 month wait for the grant money and an application that took longer than the install. Was complete madness. And not the green kind. Lol.

I've fitted a couple of these units and they won't work without the Konnect app functionality controlled via the company. Now the company is bust the functionality may dissappear making all the units unusable. And there's alot of them installed out there.