Transportation News: Enel X Throws in the Towel in North America, ChargePoint Pivots

The company behind the popular JuiceBox home electric vehicle (EV) chargers is closing its operations in the U.S. and Canada, effective immediately, and abandoning charger owners without warning. So if you've got a JuiceBox at home, you better make plans to juice up somewhere else. Now.

According to a notice sent to JuiceBox owners, Enel X Way North America, whose parent company is based in Italy, has decided to close its electric mobility business in the US and Canada. But it is also somewhat deceptively claiming that its JuiceBox Level 2 home charging stations "will maintain the physical operating ability to charge vehicles." However, all Enel apps will be deleted from their respective app stores in the U.S., so you will not be able to operate JuiceBox chargers thereafter.

The vague excuses for the sudden bricking of its products in North America include higher interest rates (which are actually dropping) and a decision to focus on countries where Enel has electric utility customers. Enel X's poor handling of the business decision to close its doors immediately in the U.S. is all the more disappointing due to the fact that the JuiceBox chargers were an excellent solution for home owners (and positively reviewed here, in AARP, and in such outlets as Car and Driver).

Meanwhile, ChargePoint, which has one of the most extensive public EV charging network in the U.S. and offers private home chargers for purchase, decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The company has joined the likes of Ford, GM, and Rivian and announced that it will deploy plugs that work not only with the standard J1772 ports on most EV models in the U.S. but also with Tesla's proprietary, er, open "North American Charging Standard" (NACS).

The so-called Omni Port will start rolling out on ChargePoint's public charging network by the end of the year. The idea is to eliminate the need for adapters and to be ready for the day when some brands other than Tesla will only sport NACS plugs. When that will happen is unclear.