Topic: Blockchain Charging Station for Electric Vehicles (Read 177 times)

I guess that might work, as long as the stated minimum fee ^{[in your hardware display]} for zero confirmations is above the needed required fee for the fastest confirmation ^{[next block]}.
^{- The following website isn't accurate enough but usually, it displays fees a bit higher than needed: Bitcoin fees}

AFAIK, it'll choose the cheapest/nearest route.

The competition can subsidize their energy forever if they want.  By building hardware that transfers electricity, your costs for insurance and legal fees (fires, death) will eat any pennies you make per station.  You will never make the scale to be profitable which would be thousands of stations.  Large capital outlay for minimal/no return.

You asked for experienced feedback, and I responded.  Don't risk anyone's capital other than your own - i.e: don't ask for a loan or investment until you've worked out your numbers.

And in general, according to statistics reports, - yes, but in some specific cases, the difference may be higher.



Yes, at one point you are right, generally charging takes from 30min to 3 hours. But after making a payment driver will immediately see the successful result and feel confident to get charged car after returning.


At the time of the idea creation, there were no chargers with open API or open source  firmware to implement the desired functions. It was the main reason for creating the project from scratch. Even now, the market has not changed dramatically in this direction.Also, compared to competitors, we already have our own hardware that will allow us to offer better prices, is not it?

Yes, right now it is based on general blockchain transactions. We decided to check transaction fee and use some kind of prediction for transaction confirmation. Have watched some videos about Lightning Network, it seems the exact thing that is needed for everyday micropayments use.
But what about non-direct LN channels between charging station and driver, some paths may be expensive in the whole LN route?
We need some time to dive into it, but definitely we will try to implement it.
Right now we give a choice for owners to use BTC or ETH network.
Also, we assume that deleting transaction from blockchain or double-spent is not a regular use-case, that is why charging starts when the transaction is broadcasted to the network.

I'm guessing you're using a traditional way and not what "amishmanish" mentioned ^{[as a solution]} which it was the use of LN, then your chosen route isn't secure enough.

I think having prices in both cryptocurrencies and fiat would be the ideal choice.

If I had one ^{[I don't]}, "YES".

2 blocks might have a longer time in-between them. For instance, the time between block "636561" and "636562" was more than an hour and by that, you would've given someone a free charging for more than an hour and the property owner, a loss of income + rates differ depending on where you are.

Are those numbers researched and accurate?  

If so, charging may take half an hour or more.   The user won't care about an extra delay as they won't be in a rush.   If they are in a rush, they'll use their built in fast chargers to connect to the grid as they drive.   It won't be long before we have paid tollways that use induction like the wireless charging on your phone.  Or in a city you could top up at a red light if you stop at the correct place.  The charging grid and electric grid will merge, and if your charger can only transfer a few dollars of energy in an hour, it won't be able to compete with the planned system.

Of course, I may be wrong.  Hardware engineering in the age of AI development is a bad idea right now; a competitor can design a better one in days - it's just a case, touch screen, scanner and modem, and it's geared towards current/obsolete electric technology. 

You should instead develop a software or service.  For example:  The first time a person uses the service, they send an extra security deposit fee.  Subsequent usage allows access/charging instantly and tops up the deposit with the payment.   Or write software to work with the millions of portable Interac machines that everyone already has, and then you don't have to worry about a scanner - just tap with your phone.

Write the software to run on existing hardware, and you won't have to worry about convincing/paying property owners to use your product.  

Charging station is designed to be compact in size for residential and public use.
It is a wall box case that can be mounted to a metal pillar or a wall near a parking slot.
The example of real installation looks like on images below.
https://i.imgur.com/D8d7iC9.png
https://i.imgur.com/Bs65kfl.png

Putting up a real image would have been much more helpful. That "representative image" doesn't tell a lot about the system you are describing. Is that how the actual power outlet will look like? Seems a bit small for use in a commercial charging station?

In near future, such a business can easily use LN and not have to worry about confirmation times.

Hi to all blockchain community from our e-mobility startup team. Two years ago we have started developing our charging station for Electric Vehicles and as we are blockchain enthusiasts too, from the early beginning we desired to add blockchain to electric vehicle charging. The integration of world-wide payment processings brings the flexibility to charge electric vehicles at different locations and EV drivers are able to go whenever they want. Our aim is to make a residential wall box charging station that is compact in size for mobile as well with commercial features so owners can get profit by allowing other drivers to access their charging point.
To reduce the waiting time of transaction confirmation and bring a good user experience, the charging process starts even with a zero-confirmation transaction. As soon as a new transaction is broadcasted to the blockchain mempool, the charging station will immediately (5-10 seconds after making a payment) start to supply energy. If that transaction is not confirmed during the next 2 blocks in Bitcoin network, the process will be suspended and EVSE will wait for network confirmations. If double-spent is detected or transaction is deleted from blockchain, the charging station will stop supplying energy to the electric vehicle. We assume that these events, when payment doesn't reach the recipient, happens rarely, and even in that case, charging stations owner will not lose a lot of money for giving a free charging about 10 minutes (less than 1$). Also, the owner will get a push notification to his phone about each payment state.

For the friendly user experience and neat design, the charging station displays a payment address as QR-code that is possible to scan via phone camera or mobile wallet app. We have tested about 10 wallets every time it is successful. Also, a price per kWh is displayed in a cryptocurrency, so the driver can select the energy limit and send cryptocurrency. Fiat (USD/EUR) equivalent price is not displayed because the user can see it in his wallet app, or should we display it?
The charging station owner is able to set up his Bitcoin or Ethereum address for receiving payments and price per kWh in the device web-interface. Usually, one car consumes 15-30 kWh per one session. Charging stations are fully automatic and are able to continue charging the car even if the Internet connection is lost.

https://i.imgur.com/HMqEOxh.jpg
Bitcoin QR-payment using any mobile wallet

We would really appreciate your experience and feedback about this idea.
What do you think about zero-confirmation algorithm? Is it secure enough to allow charging as soon as payment is broadcasted to the blockchain? If you have some experience in this field please let us know it.

Should charging station owner set up price per energy (kWh) in cryptocurrency or in fiat (USD/EUR) (in this case EVSE has to check the exchange rate and show the equivalent in cryptocurrency at the time of payment)?

What do you think about this idea? As the device is in ready to use state is it worth the ICO campaign to increase production capacity? If you (or your friend) have a shop, restaurant, cafe, or other business with parking would you like to install such one? PS. If you already want it, we are really happy to cooperate with you. Please contact us via private messages about shipping terms. We have a cheap 14 days worldwide delivery (already have clients in the USA, EU, Canada, Australia, and UAE). Also, it is possible to connect our device to your national charging station operators via a standard e-mobility open protocol called OCPP and gain advantages both of blockchain and bank card payments.

If you have other questions please write down in comments or write us directly.