CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine – May-June 2019

(Michael S) #1

70


THE INFRASTRUCTURE


cessful in sales, but also put the company in the position
of saying, ‘Hey, we’re capable of doing these things.’”
With that goal in mind, Wallbox began work on its
next charger: the Copper.


The Copper
Wallbox wanted its next charger to be something
special, and it kicked things off with a novel design
feature: a camera. Why put a camera in an EV charger?
Wallbox wanted to try out an innovative approach to
user authentication: face recognition. Though it’s more
widespread today, face recognition was still an emerging
technology when Wallbox was developing the Copper.
In fact, according to Castañeda, Wallbox’s face recogni-
tion technology was ready even before Apple’s FaceID,
which launched the same year.
As does FaceID, the Copper charger uses face recogni-
tion to authenticate users. Users upload pictures of them-
selves on the myWallbox app, and the Copper checks in
with the Wallbox cloud to perform the face recognition.
The feature targets users in condominiums or businesses
where only authorized users are permitted to charge,
eliminating the need for access codes, RFID cards, or other
credentials. Just flash a smile at the Copper, and you’re in.
But face recognition isn’t the only smart feature of
the Copper. The camera also enables gesture recogni-
tion, allowing users to interact with the charger with
the wave of a hand. The myWallbox app allows users to


monitor their charging status remotely, search through
their charging history, and program their own charging
schedules. The Copper also adapts the amount of power
it provides while charging to avoid tripping the supply,
up to a maximum of 22 kW.
“The Copper has a lot of intelligence inside,” said
Castañeda. “It’s a really smart charger.”
According to Castañeda, the Copper will only con-
tinue to get smarter. Wallbox will soon launch voice
controls for the Copper through Google Home and
Amazon Alexa. Also on the roadmap is more adaptive
AI that can learn and predict a user’s charging needs.
“We believe in smart chargers and a smart solution
behind them,” Castañeda explained. “With artificial
intelligence, the charger can know when you will leave
or make a long trip. So it will take care of that - you’ll

Wallbox wanted to


try out an innovative


approach to user


authentication: face


recognition.

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