After replacing the family car with a Tesla Model X, and now having plans to replace the second car with an electric vehicle before long, Thomas Westin of Danderyd was on the hunt for a future-proof charging solution. He found what he needed – and more besides – at Charge Amps.
Thomas lives in a detached house in Djursholm with his wife and three children. He works as a financial adviser in investment banking and is a new Tesla owner. The diesel car that had previously served as the family car was replaced last year by a Tesla Model X.
The family needs two cars to handle all the journeys associated with family life, including collecting and dropping off the kids and trips to their holiday home. The second car is still diesel powered, but Thomas is planning to replace that with an electric car before long.
A newly renovated house needs a stylish charging solution
When the Tesla was delivered, Thomas started to look for a good solution for charging at home. A neighbour on the street had recently switched from a diesel to a plug-in hybrid, and Thomas noted how they had installed a stylishly designed charging solution.
– I’d seen chargers in Täby centrum shopping centre before and knew what they looked like, but they were large and quite ugly. I’m sure they’re absolutely fine for a shopping centre but they actually look really awful, he says.
Finding a charging solution that looked good was important for Thomas. The family’s newly renovated house needed something that fitted in. With a large and modern house, it was also important for the charging solution to have smart features for handling current consumption. Particularly when the seasons change and the big energy consumers are running simultaneously in the home, it’s important to check everything is working properly while ensuring the car is fully charged.
– During certain periods, such as when we move from summer to a cold autumn, our house switches on the geothermal heating while we have a pool, hot tub and sauna running well into the autumn. Our home’s consumption of electricity is really at its peak then, says Thomas.
Many charging solutions are only designed to charge one car at a time, so it was important for Thomas to find a future-proof solution right from the start.
– Unlike our neighbour, who only charges one car at a time, we knew that it would only be a question of time before we had two electric cars, he says.
Aura was the chosen option
The charging solution installed by Thomas’ neighbour turned out to be Halo from Charge Amps, and Thomas started to investigate what other models were available. Another neighbour also happened to run the company CarCharge, a reseller for Charge Amps. Discussions were soon under way and, with the help of CarCharge, Thomas found something that could handle two cars, had a stylish design and could intelligently manage the energy consumption issue. Charge Amps’ Aura was the option chosen.
Aura’s smart safety features ensure that only the level of charging that the house can withstand is supplied to the car. Charge Amps also helped Thomas by providing valuable expertise on how to safeguard the house. As a result, the solution is now able to keep the cars fully charged while safely handling the peaks in the home’s current consumption.
More practical details than you would think
When Thomas bought his electric car, he didn’t think much about the practical elements of owning a Tesla. The car updates its software frequently and every time an update is installed, there are small changes to the way the charging works.
– As consumers we’ve learnt that every time Tesla does an update, we have to talk to Charge Amps before we install it. The Aura product can then be updated at the same time. I hadn’t expected it to be necessary, but Charge Amps has been incredibly service-minded where this is concerned, he says.
Thomas talks about a specific event a few weeks ago when an update had been installed directly in the Tesla by mistake. Since the battery was low, the situation became urgent when the car no longer accepted any charge. Nor could the problem be resolved over the telephone.
– The Charge Amps technician then got in a car and did the necessary re-installation on site. That’s what you call high-end service, says Thomas.
The combination of the high quality of the products and solution, with the level of service that Thomas experienced, has ensured he is really satisfied with Charge Amps. Since buying an Aura for his home in Djursholm, Thomas has bought another charging solution for his holiday home. In that case it was the simpler Halo model.
– At the cottage we only have the family car so we don’t need anything else there. We’re extremely satisfied, says Thomas.