We just came back from our smart charging mission in California, and what a journey it has been!
California and The Netherlands are frontrunners in electric mobility and smart charging. It was very useful to discuss learnings, open standards and the possibilities of smart charging EVs. Moreover, we made lots of new, inspiring contacts. We’re taking a bird’s-eye view and love to share our highlights of the past weeks.
Coast 2 Coast Network Event
Our trip to California is organized under the flag of Coast2Coast, a trade stimulation between Dutch companies and California. The program is supported by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and is led by Peter van Deventer.
Our first stop was in Santa Monica, just outside of LA, where we visited Dutch entrepreneurs working in California at a network meeting of the Netherlands –America Foundation (NAF). Here we were honoured to meet the Dutch Ambassador Henne Schuwer and Honorary Consul Jan van Tilburg. This turned out to be a very fruitful network meeting! Jurjen de Jong, one of the founders of GreenFlux, presented smart charging solutions – but also other inspiring parties such as the Netherlands-based Lightyear, presented interesting developments in their creation of the Lightyear One, an award winning EV charged by solar energy. Furthermore, Ellen Hiep presented a cooperation of US and Dutch schools where kids can share their view of the electric future with each other.
Improving Air Quality in California
We had constructive meetings with both the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Los Angeles and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in San Francisco, which are organizations responsible for the air quality in these areas. GreenFlux discussed how we can improve the existing charging infrastructure by using smart charging and presented solutions for open standards and postponed charging.
Governor’s office in Sacramento
In Sacramento, we met with policy makers and together with Elaad and APPM we shared the Dutch learnings in charging infrastructure for eMobility. California is showing the right example in the US!
Californian hub Living Lab Smart Charging
A Living Lab Smart Charging Hub in California was opened at UC Davis, where California and the Netherlands will work together on further developing smart eMobility and smart charging. We celebrated the first Living Lab NL smart charging platform and chargers in the US, which are powered by GreenFlux! Different charge point manufacturers using OCPP will use our intelligent platform.
Meeting inspiring people – Paul Scott and Jeff Joyner
We also visited EV Guru and Plug In America co-founder Paul Scott, whom you might know from the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? He is also one of the initiators of electric driving in California – a true visionary! He gave us the latest insights about eMobility and showed us around, accompanied by his electric motorcycle.
Moreover, we met with Jeff Joyner, co-chair of the E4 Mobility Alliance, responsible for promoting and developing the adoption of EVs and other eMobility solutions in Southern California.
Driving the Tesla Model 3
It wasn’t all business in California – Michel and Jurjen had the privilege of driving the new Tesla Model 3. See a short clip of their experience on our Twitter page! We also visited Tesla’s largest Supercharger station in the US in Kettleman, CA, which is housing 40 charging stalls.
