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CU Boulder spinout BREK Electronics partners with Emporia Energy to develop bi-directional EV charger

BREK Electronics

<p>This month, BREK Electronics, a CU Boulder startup and power electronics company revolutionizing the industry with its innovative silicon-carbide-based inverter platform, and Emporia Energy, an energy management technology company specializing in affordable, energy-saving smart home products, announced their new partnership to develop a bi-directional electric vehicle charger. The development and licensing relationship will combine BREK and Emporia鈥檚 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. This product will be the first of its kind available in North America and is predicted to hit the market in 2023 at less than $1,500.</p>
<p>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. BREK and Emporia also share an overarching mission of providing accessible and affordable products that is foundational to this development partnership.</p>
<p><img alt="BREK Electronics" class="image-small" data-align="right" src="/惫别苍迟耻谤别辫补谤迟苍别谤蝉/蝉颈迟别蝉/诲别蹿补耻濒迟/蹿颈濒别蝉/蝉迟测濒别蝉/蝉尘补鈥, led by founder and CEO Shawn McLaughlin, already 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 capacity 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鈥檚 bi-directional EV Charger will be the newest addition to this ecosystem and give customers new options for power management. Consumers will now be able to power their home through their EV, insulating them from costly utility bills and protecting them from power outages.</p>
<p>BREK is reimagining Silicon-Carbide based power electronics technologies. BREK鈥檚 Silicon-Carbide based platform has a variety of applications, including solar string inverters that can provide significantly higher power at lower cost with longer life, in a more compact design than existing commercial string inverters. BREK鈥檚 and Emporia鈥檚 collaboration will develop and adapt this hardware specifically for bi-directional EV charging.</p>
<p><img alt="Team" class="image-medium" data-align="right" src="/惫别苍迟耻谤别辫补谤迟苍别谤蝉/蝉颈迟别蝉/诲别蹿补耻濒迟/蹿颈濒别蝉/蝉迟测濒别蝉/尘别诲鈥 explained by McLaughlin, 鈥80 to 85% of electric vehicle charging currently takes place at the vehicle owner鈥檚 home, so the EV should really be seen as an extension of the home energy system. This is critical to why we want to make a bi-directional EV charger readily available 鈥 being able to transfer energy from the vehicle back into the home or grid will enable widespread adoption of distributed renewable energy without taxing the grid, while generating substantial savings for the homeowner, but there isn鈥檛 a cost effective option on the market yet. Our collaboration with BREK will create that option.鈥</p>
<p>鈥淭his is an ideal partnership for us,鈥 Dr. Kala Majeti, President and Co-founder of BREK Electronics said. 鈥淓mporia has mastered energy management technology and smart home integration with their system of products and is the perfect match for the power electronics development we do here at BREK. Our hardware expertise combined with Emporia鈥檚 experience in energy management will drive the creation of a truly groundbreaking product in the EV charging space.鈥</p>
<p><strong>About Emporia:</strong></p>
<p>Emporia is an energy management technology company with a goal of making energy efficiency accessible to all homeowners by creating energy-saving technology at the lowest cost and highest quality possible. Emporia鈥檚 line of products includes smart home energy monitors, smart plugs, EV chargers, current sensors, and software driven automated energy management tools that provide customer savings and energy efficiency. By reducing customers鈥 energy use and saving them money, Emporia is helping people create a healthier planet and a build a brighter future for us all.</p>
<p><strong>About BREK:</strong></p>
<p>BREK Electronics is a power electronics startup founded in 2017, with the goal of transforming the power electronics industry with Silicon-Carbide based architectures. Chief Technology Officer Dr. Robert Erickson is a Professor at the 乐播传媒 Boulder, and a world-renowned expert in power electronics. As co-Director of the Colorado Power Electronics Center, he has led research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and industry on novel Silicon Carbide based technologies. This research provides the technical foundation for BREK, which he co-founded with Dr. Kala Majeti, a colleague with over a decade of global solar industry experience.</p>

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