Emporia Energy, an energy management technology company, and BREK Electronics, a power electronics company, have partnered to develop a bi-directional electric vehicle charger. The development and licensing relationship will combine BREK and Emporia’s technologies to create an EV charger that will not only transfer power from the grid and home to the vehicle, but also from the vehicle back to the home and grid, the vehicles say. This product is predicted to hit the market in 2023 at less than $1,500, the companies say.
The collaboration brings together the specialties of both companies, with BREK developing the power electronics core and hardware, and Emporia developing the connector strategy and smart home integration system.
Emporia offers a line of energy management technology products that can be combined to create the Emporia Smart Home Energy Management System. These products include Level 2 EV chargers, customizable whole-home batteries with capacities from 8.2kWh to 49.2 kWh, smart plugs and real-time energy monitors that allow users to assess and control their total home energy usage in real-time via the Emporia app. The partnership’s bi-directional EV charger will be the newest addition to this ecosystem.
BREK says its silicon-carbide-based platform has a variety of applications, including solar string inverters that can provide higher power at a lower cost with longer life, in a compact design. BREK’s and Emporia’s collaboration will develop and adapt this hardware specifically for bi-directional EV charging.
