For the U.S. to meet its goals for electric vehicle adoption, the country is going to need to build out about 1.3 million level two and three chargers by 2027, according to analysts from S&P Global.
Building out that network means having enough electricians to survey, plan, and install those chargers and, frankly, there aren't enough.
That's where Condoit comes in. Based in Birmingham, Ala., the company was founded by Ian Hoppe as an answer to the bottlenecks that businesses face building out and upgrading their electrical systems.
For Hoppe, the business, which launched in 2019, and recently closed on a seed round of funding from investors, is the latest step in a seven year-journey to solve a problem the industry has faced for years.
"I knew that there was a problem with understanding real world electrical infrastructure because as an electrician and an engineer i used to run into that a lot," Hoppe said. "It’s an ever-present issue in the electrical industry. I had this idea for a lot of years and in 2015 I started working on it nights and weekends."
In 2019, Hoppe started learning to code and developed the tablet application that's at the core of Condoit's offering.
The company basically provides a toolkit for anyone with a limited understanding of electricity infrastructure to survey and site things like solar installations or electric vehicle charging systems.
"When you’re walking up one of the hundreds of millions buildings in the world most of them do not have records of their electrical infrastructure. When you add any kind of piece of equipment you have to know what’s there first and it’s always an issue," Hoppe said. "Usually what it means is a very expensive and rare engineer having to go out into the field and figure out what’s there for himself or herself… either that or they’re relying on a contractor to give them these records. "
That process can slow things down for EV installers and businesses and cost a lot.
"For EV charger installations they are high velocity and high volume. There are hundreds of thousands of small jobs that need to happen quickly," Hoppe said. "And there aren’t enough hands… there aren't enough engineers or electricians across the board."
The software has been vetted and recommended by the non-profit organization, ELECTRI International, which serves the utility and electrical contracting industry.
"By utilizing their technology, electrical contractors are able to simplify complex tasks involved in calculating a facility’s electrical system capacity. The latest announcement from the White House has the country’s energy efficiency programs and EV charging infrastructure primed for exponential growth and our ability to quickly understand electrical service constraints helps contractors make go/no go decisions when it comes to installation.”