JuiceBar and the Gen3 have an interesting history.

JuiceBar entered the market by re-packaging Clipper Creek chargers mounted in metal enclosures. The Gen1 was nearly 8’ tall. The Gen2 reduced the bulk and fitted a cord management mast to a smaller metal enclosure.

The Clipper units were later connected to OCPP site controllers and cellular modems. This system worked with Greenlots; though, many units would fall offline upon network firmware push events.

The Gen3 did away with everything that was the Gen2. This included integration of a new 80-amp rated safety circuit and power control board. The board was the only unit in the U.S. to include safety relays.

The industrial engineering of the charger included the introduction of 45-degree holsters, stainless trim-rings, and an upgrade to the Phoenix Contact multi-conductor cords with over-molded couplers.

The terminal blocks were oversized to support large conductors. The steel pedestal was changed out for a stainless unit with common bolt patterns.

The Gen3 also hosted an internal cord management system with ratcheting retractors and custom molded tether-to-cable grips. The cable grips were designed to hold the PC cable at the rated cord bend radius. This allowed the 18’ cords to fall neatly along the side of the chargers. The Gen3 was also provisioned for the use of sockets doing away with cords altogether.

The integrated systems along with pre-commissioning allowed for the chargers to be fully installed from the stub-up and operational in less than 15 minutes.

But the Gen3 was buggy at launch. The controller board firmware was designed for global protocols. This meant the OCPP startup scripts were too long and required dual messages. This was not compatible with many networks and resulted in synchronicity faults. The cellular board had an international chipset and was not well supported by U.S. carriers. Board-to-board connections were crimped loose conductor harnesses and less efficient to assemble.

The product offered now is a relaunch of the Gen3. Gyre9 resolved the controller issues creating a robust OCPP connection. As the contract manufacturer they are able to reduce costs and better support the product with respect to technical customer service and warranties.

In speaking to this, G9EV offers the charger with a comprehensive 3-year warranty including unit replacement, labor, and shipping.

There may be no other charger on the market that can be installed as fast or that enables this level of protection from live-wire by relay weld.

It will be interesting to see how the market takes to the re-provisioned G9EV charger. It is a great charger with immense potential. If a success, it is perhaps better named “The Phoenix.”