The Electric Era Knowledge Center

Electric Era’s mission is to enable the electrification and decarbonization of the transportation industry by making EV fast charging ubiquitous and affordable. Founded in 2019 in Seattle by former SpaceX engineers, we’re revolutionizing the world’s EV fast charging infrastructure.

PowerNode is a high-speed, low cost, and reliable EV fast charging solution for convenience stores that allows retailers across America to capture share of wallet from EV drivers. Built upon years of engineering and patented technology, PowerNode is an AI controlled and battery-backed charging station that brings high reliability fast charging to your convenience store in weeks instead of years by avoiding grid upgrades and expensive demand charges.

PowerNode-OS is an advanced operating system designed for managing EV charging stations, which allows for real-time monitoring, remote management, and data analytics to optimize charging performance and driver experience. Electric Era has developed a proprietary vertically integrated software stack, PowerNode OS, to maximize reliability and customer satisfaction.

PowerNode uses chargers, a battery, and AI driven software to deliver charging sessions while regulating your stores' power consumption to affordable levels. Our software predicts load, monitors utility bills, and manages power to create the highest performance and most economical charging station experience. Our battery quickly discharges to support increased charging demand in order to lower your power consumption from the grid. That means a higher level of charging sessions per day at a lower cost.

Command Console is the single stop dashboard for your convenience store’s EV fast charging station. It allows you to monitor performance, revenues, uptime, session data, and costs all in one simple-to-use interface.

PowerNode equips your retail business to capture an entirely new and rapidly growing segment of the market - EV drivers.

Today you can start generating revenue from: 1) reselling electricity from your current electric service line and 2) new and high-value in-store foot traffic.

EV Charging Revenue: PowerNode allows you to resell electricity, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), from your current electric service point. EV drivers typically purchase 33 kWh of electricity per session. At $0.45/kWh, you can generate about $15 in high-margin revenue for every charging session.

In-Store Revenue: as soon as your EV customer pulls into the parking spot and starts interacting with the charging screen, they have an opportunity to engage in loyalty programs and see targeted advertising for in-store deals and promotions. PowerNode’s loyalty program integration and targeted ad service allows you to maximize your charger-to-store conversion rate to boost in-store sales.

PowerNode also unlocks passive income streams, including dollars generated from ads displayed on charger screens, grid services, Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits, and more. These passive income streams are easy and voluntary – you simply get a check in the mail.

With these high-value revenue streams, PowerNode’s payback period is typically 1-3 years – contact Electric Era’s sales team to learn about the revenue generation possibilities and the payback period at your retail locations!

PowerNode will open your doors to the new and rapidly growing market segment of EV drivers. Once installed, PowerNode will immediately drive business to your store via visibility across major maps and EV driver apps, such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, and PlugShare.

Your PowerNode charging station will attract repeat business as EV drivers establish charging routines, similar to fueling habits of combustion engine drivers. PowerNode offers a premium experience due to its efficient, seamless, and pleasant user experience combined with unparalleled uptime.

In August of 2022, The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law, offering federal tax credits to businesses who invest in Energy Storage Technology and Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property. These tax incentives help retailers upgrade their offerings related to electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

LCFS credits are an incentive designed to reduce carbon emissions in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Registered EV charging stations generate LCFS credits, which are valued according to each metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions reduced.

Charging station owners earn revenue from selling these credits, estimated to be worth at least $7,000 per year in year 1 of your charging station’s activation. Do you have solar onsite? If so, revenue generation may be even stronger!

Electric Era manages the sale of these credits on behalf of your business to maximize the revenue you receive and collects the nuanced data required to ensure compliance against state reporting audits.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law in November of 2021. IIJA created the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program which allocates $5 billion of funding for the deployment of EV fast charging stations along interstate highway corridors around America. Subject to meeting the specific criteria, eligible convenience stores can receive grant funding to deploy EV fast charging systems like the PowerNode Platform. Your convenience store may be eligible to receive funding.

To request an estimate and a site feasibility study, please schedule a meeting with Electric Era’s sales team. During this conversation, our experts will assess your business’s financial goals for EV charging, your planned installation timeline, and other considerations that affect your fit for a PowerNode charging station.

After this initial meeting, Electric Era will complete your feasibility study. To do this, we will need a list of addresses where you are considering installing PowerNode, and (if available) an electrical utility bill from each site.

PowerNode’s above-the-grid charging technology enables your station to be installed within 16 weeks (down from 2-3 years with our competitors). Electric Era achieves this accelerated timeline by minimizing the required transformer size at your station. In most cases, a small pole-mounted transformer is sufficient to bring a site’s grid capacity up to levels necessary for PowerNode. Unlike our competitors, Electric Era does not have to wait years for expensive pad-mounted transformers.

Electric Era handles all aspects of building your PowerNode EV charging station. We handle site design, permitting, installation, and operations and maintenance with 24/7 oversight. We are available for regular meetings to provide updates on your project’s status during installation. Once the station is operational, Electric Era will coordinate an opening day launch event with you to inform your customers that you have installed highly reliable premium EV charging.

Electric Era enables 99.5% station reliability for PowerNode stations through failure, detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) algorithms, a 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC), and in-field service partners.

The first step of Electric Era’s maintenance system is FDIR algorithms designed by our team of SpaceX veterans. FDIR algorithms are designed to identify and quickly isolate faults. If the fault cannot be recovered autonomously, the system alerts PowerNode’s Network Operations Center (NOC).

Electric Era’s NOC autonomously monitors each site via high-rate telemetry oversite. On-call operators receive priority-based alert notifications and remotely operate, troubleshoot, and recover from faults/errors. When remote recovery is not possible, operators fully diagnose the problem and dispatch maintenance technicians to ensure rapid station recovery in as little as four hours with a single truck roll.

PowerNode is designed to scale effortlessly across your real estate footprint. Whether you have 5 convenience stores or 5,000, PowerNode provides affordable, reliable and high performance EV fast charging. All of your PowerNode charging stations are monitored from one easy to use interface, so you can see the combined performance of all stations, or a single station’s performance with the click of a button.

PowerNode O&M is your comprehensive parts and labor warranty for your EV fast charging station. You can rest assured that your PowerNode is overseen in the cloud by our Network Operations Team 24/7 and serviced by a national provider of in-field maintenance services.

Backed by a 99.5% uptime guarantee, PowerNode O&M makes station reliability seamless with autonomous monitoring and troubleshooting of your charging station, increasing its uptime and revenue. Attract repeat customers to your store with outstanding charging success rate performance and continuous station operations with PowerNode O&M as your partner.

Electric Era’s mission is to enable the electrification and decarbonization of the transportation industry by making EV fast charging ubiquitous and affordable. Founded in 2019 in Seattle by former SpaceX engineers, we’re revolutionizing the world’s EV fast charging infrastructure.

PowerNode stations guarantee 99.5% reliability and will be ready to use when you arrive. Electric Era’s engineering expertise allows PowerNode to avoid problems common for other EV charging stations, such as payment system failures and hardware malfunctions.

Any chargeable electric vehicle can refuel at a PowerNode charging station. PowerNode serves all makes and models of battery electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. All PowerNode stations offer Combined Charging System (CCS) ports, and Electric Era is keeping pace with the rest of the EV charging industry on the North American charging standard (NACS) rollout.

The typical charging session with PowerNode takes approximately 15 minutes. PowerNode stations only use Level 3 chargers, the fastest type of charger on the market. Even if you arrive at the charger with almost 0% of your car’s battery, a charging session will rarely exceed 30 minutes.

PowerNode uses proprietary energy management algorithms to distribute energy among cars as efficiently as possible, giving every driver who is charging simultaneously an optimized experience.

PowerNode stations are located near attractive amenities that you can enjoy while you charge your car. Electric Era partners with retailers known for excellent customer service and pleasant, safe locations. Near every PowerNode you’ll find a store with a restroom, food, drinks, and EV-friendly staff.

PowerNode stations are in safe, well-lit areas. Each EV parking space has clear visibility from inside the convenience store on-site, and from the roadway. You won’t feel like you need to rush your charge, fear charging at night, or worry about watching your car the whole time you’re charging. PowerNode stations are at accessible locations, not hidden in corners.

PowerNode stations are convenient for your route. Electric Era partners with gas stations and convenience retailers to install EV charging at locations where gas cars already refuel. PowerNode is available on major roads, in city centers, and in more remote areas.

You can find PowerNode stations and plan your trip with any EV charging station locator app, including Apple Maps, Google Maps, PlugShare, and Chargeway. We want you to have a charging station available near your path of travel that gets you back on your way quickly.

If there is no PowerNode near you and Electric Era should consider your area, please let us know!