Wallbox Quasar V2X update

[watchdoc]

Got this response from Wallbox today.

Hi David,

Thank you for reaching out to Wallbox and for your interest in Quasar. We are excited by the industry interest in Quasar and in the future of bidirectional charging for homes.

While we have begun sales and shipment of Quasar in select regional markets outside the United States, we are continuing to iterate and evolve the development of Quasar for the North American market to ensure that it meets the needs and expectations of customers across this region and that Quasar is fully compatible with EVs sold in North America. We are currently expecting Quasar North America to go into production in late 2022.

As our engineers continue to develop Quasar for North America, we are working with North American utilities, auto manufacturers and other partners to test and validate Quasar and our bidirectional charging technology to ensure compatibility with regional electrical standards and with EV makes and models sold in North America. Indeed part of the future success of Quasar and bidirectional charging depends on more EVs being bidirectional-capable. When Quasar does arrive in the region, it will be an even better and more capable product than it is today.

In the meantime, we continue to bring other new products to North America. We recently launched the all new Pulsar Plus, a smart, Level 2 charger designed specifically for the North American market capable of up to 48Amps of charging power. In the next year we will also enter the public charging market with the arrival of Supernova, a DC fast charging system whose modular design and low cost of operation and installation promises to make DC fast charging more affordable and convenient for public installations. To stay in touch on these developments, as well as the progress on Quasar, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter--sign up at https://blog.wallbox.com/en-usa/

Thanks again for your interest and for joining us in our journey to bring this unique product and technology to North America!

Best regards,



Chrissy Patterson
Wallbox Customer Service

 

[LeftieBiker]

Feh.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Double feh!

I am tired of waiting for them.

 

[Randy]

Utilities will require UL/NRTL testing as part of the interconnection process. The Wallbox folks can't really apply for UL/NRTL testing until they are done designing the product for North America (and the testing can take a while and cost a bit).

As far as the price for testing, an OEM that makes a dryer/EV charging solution told me that they spent a total of $250K for the UL testing/listing and associated mitigations. The Wallbox product sounds like it could be a little more complicated, but I'm not a testing/compliance expert.

 

[LeftieBiker]

If they had any sense, they would first offer a non-grid-tied version that just uses the DCFC port to provide home power for emergencies or off-grid setups. Instead, they keep offering expensive variations, selling a few, then DISCONTINUING THEM so that people stuck with them have to buy yet another version. I'd rather buy a Chinese unit that's been in use for a while.

 

[aunsafe2015]

Anybody else completely giving up hope that this product will ever materialize? With chademo essentially dead, what incentive does Wallbox even have to keep working on it?

I'll be shocked if we ever see it. And I wish they would quit stringing us along.

 

[lllaible]

Ford Lighting will come with the bi-directional charger. So who is making it for Ford?

 

[watchdoc]

Ford Lighting will come with the bi-directional charger. So who is making it for Ford?

It’s appears to be Sunrun

 

[lllaible]

Is sun run building the bi-direction charger or just installng it? Because I think they are a installer not a builder, I could be wrong.

 

[SageBrush]

Feh.

I don't know what language Chrissy is speaking but I cannot make sense of it, other than her saying the product is not available in the USA.

Can someone translate ?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Feh.

I don't know what language Chrissy is speaking but I cannot make sense of it, other than her saying the product is not available in the USA.

Can someone translate ?

Having drawn people to the site with the Wall Box, they will then attempt to sell them various charging stations, instead.

 

[Marktm]

Could Lucid become the tech leader in V2X capabilities with the "Wunderbox"? The most expansive description that I can find:

"Wonderful Wunderbox
Located just behind the front power unit and mounted to the firewall is the power controller, which is internally referred to as the Wunderbox. It incorporates a 19.2-kW bidirectional charger that can also accept DC fast-charging current. It uprates 400-volt power coming in from older DC fast chargers to the Air's nominal 900-volt operating voltage. It also incorporates a DC-to-DC converter that steps down the battery pack's 900 volts to 400 volts to efficiently operate the onboard heater (for cabin or battery conditioning) or to buddy-charge a fellow EV. And as a bonus, the box serves as an important load path to distribute frontal crash energy."

My interpretation is that the Air's CCS/J-1772 portion will be a bidirectional AC voltage "charger" that likely will require a specific charge controller to help monitor, (disconnect?) and create US split phase VAC power/energy for grid tie ** (and home backup?). Also, the WB will use the DC pins to detect the DC voltage and allow direct 900 VDC charging or "uprates" the traditional fast chargers to the required 900 VDC battery charging. If all this, a great combination of known tech to provide many needed functions to match existing EV based equipment (A/C, fast chargers, home electrical panels, etc.).
** more likely 240 VAC single phase that requires all external stuff to be "home backup" - does anyone have more information??