The GoHub is being described as a revolution in public charging provision, providing a community-based solution that can be installed anywhere, at a much lower cost and at a much faster rate, while enabling any parking space to be a charging spot.
The ability to roll-out Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure at speed is essential to allow national and local governments to deploy it at a faster rate where it is needed the most to support mass EV adoption. EV owners will now have the choice to purchase the Go outright, on subscription or rent one through the GoHub.
The GoHub hosts multiple ZipCharge Go EV powerbanks providing convenient, flexible, and low-cost energy. It is a secure way of housing, recharging, and providing access to the ZipCharge Go so that anyone can access a portable powerbank at the lowest cost. The GoHub is modular and flexible in size, suitable for a diverse number of locations, including on-street, in car parks, at work and in private environments.
Commenting ZipCharge Co-founder, Jonathan Carrier said, “We intend to establish the world’s first vertically integrated ‘energy point operator’ (EPO) to serve hundreds of millions of people around the world so everyone can access convenient and low-cost energy. The ZipCharge Go and the GoHub enable the storage of clean energy, which can then be distributed for a multitude of uses from charging an EV to powering equipment.
“We predict our portable powerbanks will outsell fixed home chargers by 2030, in the same way mobile phones overtook landlines. That’s because the Go can be used for more than charging EV charging, it’s a portable energy storage device for personal energy management. We have the bold ambition to deploy 100,000 GoHubs globally by 2030 to support EV charging, local grid resiliency and energy democracy.”
ZipCharge Co-founder, Richie Sibal went on to say, “The Go and the GoHub are integral components of our future energy platform, one that combines hardware, software and distributed energy storage in the home and our public energy points to provide a wide range of energy services for our customers. We will use technology to solve the inequality that exists around access to charging and energy by placing a ZipCharge Go unit within five minutes’ walk of where people live and park.”
In its base form, the GoHub comes in two variants; a single sided unit houses five ZipCharge Go portable powerbanks, or a double-sided GoHub with ten. Both can fit into a regular parking space. It can also be sited on the pavement or close to where power already exists. All GoHubs can be intelligently reconfigured, expanded and connected together with minimal investment, growing in tandem with the adoption of electric vehicles.
Through the GoHub, ZipCharge Go powerbanks will be available to rent 24 hours a day with the option to pre-reserve a Go in the app. As the user approaches the correct bay door of the GoHub automatically opens. They then easily pull out the charger from its dock inside the GoHub, wheel it to the vehicle and plug-it in. Once finished, the user is notified on their smart phone, they collect the Go and return it to the bay allocated via the app.
Anytime access will allow anyone to use a Go powerbank for a simple to understand fee: £1, €1 or $1 for a 4kWh charge with no connection fee.
The GoHubs will be three times cheaper and three times faster to install versus fixed on street level 2 chargers, transforming the payback period for AC public charging from 8-10 years to less than two. This would allow the government and public funding support to install more chargers in more locations. They can also be placed where the grid can best cope with the extra load, as well as being far less disruptive to the streetscape.
GoHubs will come with a suite of technology support. They will all be networked to the ZipCharge cloud and back-office with energy management and remote monitoring software to ensure operational safety and optimise charging costs and energy use.
The lightweight ZipCharge Go power bank is the size of a compact wheeled suitcase which can be charged in a GoHub, at home or elsewhere using a standard domestic plug at a lower cost per kWh of electricity when compared to public on-street charging.
Using the retractable handle, users are able to wheel it to wherever they’ve parked their EV and plug it into the charging port. The port locks the charging cable in, securing the charger with the vehicle. ZipCharge Go provides up to 20 miles (32km) of range, providing sufficient range for the average daily commute (in UK/EU), in a little over 30 mins and can then be neatly stored in the trunk / boot, or at home.
ZipCharge Go can be used in all normal weather conditions like a normal fixed charge point.
