Juice Ultra 2 battery: the village well principle

CEO Erni and his team have never lacked ideas or visuals to explain Juice products. He let a tank roll over the Booster 2 to demonstrate its stability, overfilled the Booster 3 with Coke to show that it is smaller than a typical 0.33-liter can, and threw the Charger Me into an aquarium and let it continue charging there to demonstrate its waterproof capabilities.

Typical Juice Technology: Plug&Play even for DC Charging

Now comes their own DC charger, the Juice Ultra 2 battery. A red three-phase socket is enough for the connection – just plug it in, and you're done. The approach is typical for the Swiss charging professionals: it should work as simply as possible. In this case, that means: as little construction or even excavation work as possible! So, a flat surface is sufficient for the Juice Ultra 2 battery. Within about an hour, you should be able to set up the device, connect it to the grid, and make it operational. Any red industrial socket can be used for this purpose, with CEE32, CEE63, or CEE125 particularly recommended.

The Juice Ultra 2 battery offers up to 210 kW of output power, which can be distributed across two CCS charging points via intelligent load management. It is available in two versions: with a battery unit of 233 kWh storage capacity or with two battery units offering a combined capacity of 466 kWh. And since Juice always thinks from the software perspective, a lot of "brains" have been integrated into the device. The integrated energy storage system with BYD lithium-ion batteries is controlled by a powerful energy management system (EMS) that can be operated both locally and remotely. This EMS coordinates the energy flows between the grid, battery, and electric vehicles to ensure optimized energy distribution. Continuous charging of the batteries ensures high charging performance despite low grid connection power.

This brings us to the "village fountain principle," as Erni smilingly explains: Water always trickled into it until the animals were brought to drink from it, more or less emptying it. If you replace water with electricity, the load on the grid would be minimized, which in turn results in significantly lower fees paid to the grid operator. Overall, this should result in a much more cost-efficient operation compared to conventional DC fast charging stations. According to Erni, the battery would amortize within one and a half to two years and would therefore be "practically included for free" compared to a classic DC charger.

And of course, the new DC charger can also be upgraded: thanks to the intelligent energy management system, (surplus) charging with PV systems can be easily integrated. For simple payment processing, a credit card terminal is available. A 19-inch touchscreen also ensures a pleasant charging experience.

Peak loads should be avoided

Additionally, the Juice Ultra 2 battery should avoid peak loads that would otherwise incur costs and have to be paid to the grid operator. The battery is continuously charged throughout the day or only during times with favorable electricity tariffs, leading to significant cost savings. In an interview, Christoph Erni answered further questions for us.

Juice has always been somewhat reticent about DC charging. Has your opinion on that changed now?

Christoph Erni: Reticent is a good way to put it, because now we believe the ideal moment has arrived. It is clear that we still focus primarily on AC, which, if you want to do it comprehensively and well, is complex enough. But in addition, there were more and more inquiries about faster DC charging.

From whom?

Erni: From a variety of institutions: both from public and semi-public areas, where it is often about customers wanting to fully charge their vehicles during a longer stay. This ranges from fast-food places to office complexes to retail stores. Always under the premise, and this is crucial, that peak loads should be avoided and often operating in "old" neighborhoods where the connection power cannot or can only be increased with extreme effort. Because quickly, feeder line, transformer, and active power add up to immense amounts, so our battery typically amortizes within two years at the latest. As I said, we now have several concrete inquiries about that.

Can you be more specific here?

Erni: These include, in addition to offices that have two to three visitors per day who would like to fully charge, also haulers in fine distribution traffic. Their transporters drive in local fine distribution and can cover up to 400 kilometers a day. They are usually empty in the afternoon and need power again for the late tour while they pack their vehicles for this second round. Typically, they show up in stages anyway, and four to six vehicles are charged. Ideally, of course, with solar power. This is also interesting for individual heavier trucks in distribution traffic. Car dealerships also have a great interest as they now need to upgrade their charging infrastructure and have several customers who want to charge quickly. The same goes for fleets, where drivers briefly return to headquarters but then need to drive another distance.

Which brings us right to fleet charging, for which Juice also has AC solutions. How is that developing?

Erni (smiling): Very well! Here, many customers are looking for complete solutions that do not cause them any problems. Plug&Play, so to speak.

Which you can achieve well with the Charger me 3 and the Booster 3 air, especially since Juice also offers load management and an appropriate app.

Erni: But here you have to differentiate: the Charger me 3 is more in demand when the charging option is to be permanently installed at home and in the office. When vehicles are only temporarily provided to users or the locations where charging takes place frequently change, many customers prefer the Booster 3 air, which is always carried with the vehicle. The booster is simply plugged in on-site, if necessary with an adapter, and neither installation nor dismantling is required.

There are apps or cards for this, but can't they still be tricked?

Erni: We have now introduced a mileage indication for this purpose. This way, the mobility manager can calculate consumption and immediately see if there is a dramatic increase in a vehicle's consumption. The ISO 15118 is also helpful here: then cars and charging stations recognize each other, and automatic, clear billing takes place.

In Germany, the market for electromobility has cooled down significantly. Is Juice also feeling this?

Erni: It would be a lie to say that the trees are growing sky-high. We also feel the impact of COVID, the chip crisis, reduced purchasing power, and the loss of subsidies, but rather as a "dent" because: Pilot customers are growing, and the dent in Germany is more than compensated by rapidly growing markets like the USA and now also the UK. It is also interesting that we have been able to maintain our strong market share with Amazon: Here, we account for 35% of wall boxes and 90% of mobile devices. Therefore, we cannot complain here. The Paris Agreement stands, CO2 must be reduced, and this is easiest and most effective electrically.