A condo complex in Northern California has installed charging for all of its 90 housing unit with an after-incentive cost of around $405 per unit – solving one of the only real problems with EV charging.
One of the main benefits of an electric vehicle is in the convenience of owning and charging the car. Instead of having to go out of your way to fuel it, you just park it at home, in the same place it spends at least 8 hours a day, and you leave the house every day with a full charge.
But this benefit only applies to those with a consistent parking space which they can easily install charging at. When talking about owners who live in apartment buildings, it can sometimes get more complicated.
While certain states have passed “right to charge” laws to give apartment-dwellers a solution for home charging, apartment charging is nevertheless a bit of a patchwork solution so far.
And so, when we heard about a condo complex that installed EV chargers for all of its units, and at an incredibly low cost of just $405 per space in one of the highest cost-of-living areas in the country, we had to find out more.
The condo complex is Woodland Creek, with 90 units in East Palo Alto, CA, in the heart of SIlicon Valley, the epicenter of electric vehicle adoption in the US.
The project was installed by Pando Electric, an EV charging company that focuses on multifamily and commercial buildings. We spoke with its CEO and founder, Aaron Li, for some insights into the project.
Pando says this is the largest “100% coverage” project in North America, but that it’s not stopping there. It’s the largest project the company has installed yet, but that record won’t stay for long.
It differs from others in that most multifamily projects will cover some percentage of available spaces, but this one decided to add outlets for every single parking spot on the property – 90 spots, each for one unit, and 2 handicap parking spots.
The chargers are small boxes, equipped with connectivity and a NEMA 14-50 outlet. Each charger doesn’t have a cable connected – that’s for the owner of the car to provide, in the form of a mobile charging connector. Most EVs either come with one of these cables, or one can be purchased separately for a few hundred dollars.
Pando says the benefit of going this route is that in a world with a wide variety of electric cars, OEM-supplied equipment will always be the most reliable, and will often come with a warranty from the vehicle manufacturer.
It also means that each owner is responsible for their own cable, which means you don’t need to have one maintenance guy on the property responsible for keeping all 90 units up and running, or people mistreating attached cables, because each person will take ownership over their own equipment and take better care of it (there’s a similar provision in the new NACS/J3400 spec that should help with public charging). And that there will be no need to update systems if charging standard change – as we’re seeing currently as the industry transitions to NACS.
Instead of adding dedicated service to each spot, Pando’s system shares electricity between all the outlets on the property. In this way, it can use 300 amps of three-phase commercial service to charge all 90 cars overnight – albeit not as quickly as if each vehicle had its own dedicated 7-10kW level 2 charger. And it said installation costs went down by 80% when connecting to communal electricity rather than adding service to each individual unit.
It accomplishes this by implementing a queue through Pando’s charging app. When a car wants to charge, you plug in, initiate a charging session through the app (or through a “tap-to-charge” NFC system), and get added to a queue. If you have a particular need for immediate charging, you can jump to the front of the queue and pay a premium (of around 20%) for faster charging. Charging costs the same amount as electricity would normally cost in the area, and your electricity usage is monitored through the Pando app.
For most owners, this queue won’t really make a difference – most people are driving some ~40 miles per day and would only need an hour or two of charging per night anyway. So the effect is the same: you get home, you plug in, and you wake up to a full charge.
And having centralized control over charging does open up possibilities for grid services. We’ve seen services like virtual power plants that are able to leverage grid-connected storage to feed the grid on demand, and Pando would like to move in that direction eventually – but its current NEMA 14-50 solution is not bidirectional-capable.
However, dynamic load management is still useful, as the system can try to deliver maximum power at times of lower demand, then scale back when demand (and prices, and grid stress) are high. Some utilities have started offering incentives for users to cut back usage at certain times (or asked everyone to cut back on usage to avoid blackouts), so a centralized system can help to manage power automatically in these situations without having to get every resident onboard.
The most impressive part about the project is the price that Pando was able to achieve. It did take advantage of a hefty utility credit from Peninsula Clean Energy, the local electric utility co-operative, which covered $2,000 per unit installed.
After that incentive, the all-in cost including the charging units themselves (~$500 each), project design, installation, conduit, permitting, labor, etc, was only $405 per unit. This is less than a month’s worth of HOA fees at the condo complex, where units cost between $500k-$1m. So, a drop in the bucket, really, in order to add new capability to every unit (and thus, better resale value, especially given the popularity of EVs in the area).
Typically, adding traditional level 2 charging can cost a lot more than that for an apartment complex, especially if there’s a need to pull more capacity from the utility (which takes more time, too, adding further to project costs). So this load-sharing method results in great benefits on cost.
And by covering every unit, residents won’t need to worry about sharing chargers, or needing to wait for upgrades if all of a sudden there are more EVs than there are spots. It future-proofs the complex so that even if everyone gets an EV (it is Silicon Valley, after all), there will still be places for them all to charge.
Electrek’s Take
I’ve long said that the only real problem with EVs is charging for people who don’t have access to their own garage. Whether this be apartment-dwellers, street-parkers or the like, the electric car charging experience is often less-than-ideal outside of single family homes, at least in North America.
There are workarounds available, like charging at work, or using Superchargers in “third places” where you often spend time, but these still aren’t optimal. The best bet is just to charge your car wherever it spends most of its time, which is your home. When you do that, EVs outshine everything in convenience.
So there’s a need for solutions in this space, and Pando’s seems like a pretty good one. There are other companies doing installations for multifamily dwellings, but we haven’t heard of one that was this cheap before. It really makes it seem economical to install these units for every single parking spot, instead of fussing about with some smaller percentage of units and having to do additional upgrades later.
The one problem with it that I see is that it’s attached to an app. While Pando says that it’s worked to ensure the app is reliable even if the system goes down (e.g., it communicates locally instead of needing to connect to the internet at all times), an app is just an unnecessary step after plugging in that I’d like to see removed.
Pando says that it’s working on bringing a “plug-and-charge-like experience” to using its chargers – which I’d imagine would be possible by doing local bluetooth communication with a phone when a charging session is started, much like the phone-as-key system on Teslas and some other EVs these days. You’d still need an app, you just wouldn’t need to open it every time, which would be good enough in my opinion.
But overall, I’m quite excited about this project, because it solves a big problem, and I cant wait to see more multifamily communities install something like this. And, frankly, we also need legislation/building codes to hop in and require this sort of thing, so it becomes the rule rather than the exception and apartment dwellers can feel secure that they’ll be able to find a place to charge – and if install costs can get as low as $405/unit, that makes a regulatory answer much more possible.
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Tesla has quietly removed the Cybertruck’s range extender from the options in its online configurator.
Does Tesla still plan to bring the product to market?
When Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck in late 2023, there were two main disappointments: the price and the range.
The tri-motor version, which was the most popular in reservation tallies, was supposed to have over 500 miles of range and start at $70,000.
Tesla now sells the tri-motor Cybertruck for $100,000 and only has a range of 320 miles.
As for the dual-motor Cybertruck, it was supposed to cost $50,000 and have over 300 miles of range. The reality is that it starts at $80,000, and it has 325 miles of range.
However, Tesla had devised a solution to bring the range closer to what it originally announced: a separate battery pack that sits in the truck’s bed. Tesla called it a “range extender.” It costs $16,000 and takes up a third of the Cybertruck’s bed.
Even though the Cybertruck has been in production for a year and a half at this point, the range extender has yet to launch.
Initially, Tesla said that it would come “early 2025”, but we reported that it was pushed to “mid-2025” late last year.
At the time, Tesla also reduced the range that the removable battery pack adds to the Cybertruck to “445+ miles” rather than “470+ miles” for the dual motor – a ~25-mile reduction in range.
Now, Tesla has removed the option from its online Cybertruck configurator. It used to take reservations for the range extender with a “$2,000 non-refundable deposit”, as seen on the image above, but now it’s not in the configurator at all at the time of writing.
It’s unclear if Tesla is not planning to launch the product anymore or if it is just pausing reservations.
In its specs page, Tesla still lists the achievable range of both versions of the Cybertruck with and without the range extender battery:
Electrek’s Take
I’m curious. Is it dead, or does Tesla just want to stop taking reservations for it?
At first, I was curious about the product even though I didn’t think it would make up for Tesla’s significant miss on Cybertruck specs.
However, after it was confirmed that it takes up 30% of your bed and that it needs to be installed and removed by Tesla at a service center, I think it’s pretty much dead on arrival at $16,000.
It’s going to be a product limited to only a few people at best. And now that’s if it makes it to market.
With the option being removed from the configurator, there’s no production timeline available. Again, the last one was “mid-2025”, which is soon.
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Environment
EcoFlow members can save up to 65% on power stations while supporting disaster relief during the 2025 Member’s Festival
Portable power station specialist EcoFlow is kicking off its third annual Member’s Festival this month and is offering a unique new rewards program to those who become EcoFlow members. The 2025 EcoFlow Member’s Festival will offer savings of up to 65% for its participating customers, and a portion of those funds will be allocated toward rescue power solutions for communities around the globe through the company’s “Power for All” fund.
EcoFlow remains one of the industry leaders in portable power solutions and continues to trek forward in its vision to power a new tech-driven, eco-conscious future. Per its website:
Our mission from day one is to provide smart and eco-friendly energy solutions for individuals, families, and society at large. We are, were, and will continue to be a reliable and trusted energy companion for users around the world.
To achieve such goals, EcoFlow has continued to expand its portfolio of sustainable energy solutions to its community members, including portable power stations, solar generators, and mountable solar panels. While EcoFlow is doing plenty to support its growing customer base, it has expanded its reach by giving back to disaster-affected communities by helping bolster global disaster response efforts the best way it knows how– with portable power solutions.
EcoFlow and its members look to provide “Power for All”
Since 2023, EcoFlow has collaborated with organizations worldwide as part of its “Power for All” mission. This initiative aims to ensure access to reliable and timely power to disaster-affected communities across the globe, including rescue agencies, affected hospitals, and shelters, to support rescue and recovery efforts.
This fund most recently provided aid for communities affected by the recent Los Angeles wildfires, assistance to the Special Forces Charitable Trust (SFCT) in North Carolina following severe hurricanes, and support for non-profits engaged in hurricane preparedness in Florida and the Gulf Coast. Per Jodi Burns, CEO of the Special Forces Charitable Trust:
In the wake of devastating storms in Western North Carolina, reliable power was a critical need for the families we serve. Thanks to EcoFlow’s generous donation of generators, we were able to provide immediate relief, ensuring these families and their communities had access to power when they needed it most. We are so impressed with EcoFlow’s commitment to disaster response through their ‘Power for All’ program. It has made a tangible impact, and we are deeply grateful for their support and partnership in helping these families recover and rebuild.
In 2024, the US experienced 27 weather and climate events, each causing losses exceeding $1 billion, marking the second-highest annual total on record, according to National Centers for Environmental Information. The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters underscore the critical need for reliable and timely power solutions during emergencies, much like EcoFlow and its members are helping provide through the “Power For All” initiative.
To support new and existing EcoFlow members, the company is celebrating its third annual Member’s Festival throughout April to offer a do-not-miss discount on its products and donate a portion of all sales to the “Power for All” fund to provide rescue power to those in need in the future. Learn how it all works below.
Save big and give back during the 2025 Member’s Festival
As of April 1st, you can now sign up to become an EcoFlow member to participate in the company’s exclusive 2025 Member Festival.
As a member, you can earn “EcoFlow Power Points” by completing tasks like registration, referrals, and product purchases and tracking your individual efforts toward disaster preparedness and recovery.
Beginning April 4, EcoFlow members will also be able to take advantage of exclusive discounts of up to 65% off select portable power stations, including the DELTA Pro Ultra, DELTA Pro 3, DELTA 2 Max, DELTA 3 Plus, RIVER 3 Plus, and more. However, these sale prices only last through April 25, so you’ll want to move quickly!
Click here to learn more about EcoFlow’s “Power for All” campaign. To register for EcoFlow’s 2025 Member Festival in the US, visit the EcoFlow website. To register as a member in Canada, visit here.
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Tesla is losing another top talent: its long-time head of software, David Lau, has reportedly told co-workers that he is exiting the automaker.
Tesla changed how the entire auto industry looks at software.
Before Tesla, it was an afterthought; user interfaces were rudimentary, and you had to go to a dealership to get a software update on your systems.
When Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, it all changed. Your car would get better through software updates like your phone, the large center display was responsive with a UI that actually made sense and was closer to an iPad experience than a car.
Tesla also integrated its software into its retail experience, service, and manufacturing.
David Lau deserves a lot of the credit for that.
He joined Tesla in 2012 as a senior manager of firmware engineering and quickly rose through the ranks. By 2014, he was promoted to director of firmware engineering and system integration, and in 2017, he became Vice President of software.
Lau listed the responsibilities of his team on his LinkedIn:
- Vehicle Software:
- Firmware for the powertrain, traction/stability control, HV electronics, battery management, and body control systems
- UI software and underlying Embedded Linux platforms
- Navigation and routing
- iOS and Android Mobile apps
- Distributed Systems:
- Server-side software and infrastructure that provides telemetry, diagnostics, over-the-air updates, and configuration/lifecycle management
- Data engineering and analytics platforms that power technical and business insights for an increasingly diverse set of customers across the company
- Diagnostic tools and fleet management, Manufacturing and Automation:
- Automation controls (PLC, robot)
- Server-side manufacturing execution systems that power all of Tesla’s production operations
- Product Security and Red Team for software, services, and systems across Tesla
Bloomberg reported today that Lau told his team he is leaving Tesla. The report didn’t include reasons for his stepping down.
Electrek’s Take
Twelve years at any company is a great run. At Tesla, it’s heroic. Congrats, David, on a great run. You undoubtedly had a significant impact on Tesla and software advancements in the broader auto industry.
He is another significant loss for Tesla, which has been losing a lot of top talent following a big wave of layoffs around this time last year.
I wonder who will take over. Michael Rizkalla, senior director of software engineering and vehicle firmware, is one of the most senior software engineers after Lau. He has been at Tesla for 7 years, and Tesla likes to promote within rather than hire outsiders.
There are also a lot of senior software execs working on AI at Tesla. Musk has been favoring them lately and he could fold Lau’s responsibilities under them.
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