[HN Gopher] Launch HN: Enode (YC W21) - API for energy consumption
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Launch HN: Enode (YC W21) - API for energy consumption
Hi HN! We're Thorvald, Nikolai and Henrik from Enode
(https://www.enode.io). At Enode we build APIs that allow energy
providers to connect to electric vehicles, heating, solar panels
and home batteries. Energy providers use our API, for instance, to
make sure that your Tesla is being charged when the price of
electricity is low, saving you roughly 20% on your charging. Now
that we have thousands of EVs connected to our platform, we also
build software that bundles them together into virtual power plants
that replace fossil fuel driven power plants during high demand.
This all started when Nikolai, our CTO, wanted to add more EV
brands to his popular Tesla app. He had seen a broader selection of
EVs in another energy app, but couldn't find a simple way to add
many at the same time. He therefore started implementing one car
brand after another, and after launching it in Norway an energy
supplier reached out and asked if they could use his solution in
their app. And that is how we got our first customer. Being from
Norway we are seeing the effects of EV adoption and
electrification, which has been a huge inspiration for working on
Enode. More than 2/3 of new cars sold in Norway are now EVs and 98%
of the electricity produced comes from renewable sources. The
increase in demand from EVs and electrification, combined with the
transition to volatile renewable energy from solar and wind create
enormous challenges for the energy grid. The result is that we have
to shift from an energy system that responds to demand to one that
responds to supply. Heating and (soon) EV charging makes up a
large portion of the total energy demand. In a place with solar
production it might be better to start heating a couple of hours
before you get home from work because there is excess solar
generation. Also, maybe your EV charging should be moved to a time
at night when wind generation is expected to increase. The optimal
consumption pattern will vary from place to place, from day to day
and from season to season. Such as in this example, changing the
demand can often be done without affecting your daily life. But to
make it possible your EV and heater must be connected to the
internet and managed by someone, for instance your energy provider.
This is what our API enables. Our customers are the next
generation energy providers that use our API to connect EVs,
heaters and other products to their apps. If done right, people are
very excited about these apps as they save money on the bill and
consume cleaner energy. We would love to hear what you think. If
you have any questions or ideas please let us know! Thank you!
Author : hlangeland
Score : 57 points
Date : 2021-03-15 16:57 UTC (6 hours ago)
| whistlecow wrote:
| I feel sadness for the Smartcar company. First they are
| completely cloned by Otonomo and now YC is investing in another
| clone?
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19719380
|
| YC is becoming a joke. Your website is carbon copy of SmartCar.
| Not sure if this or the calendar widget company is more amusing.
| AleksanderNL22 wrote:
| Great idea! If I have a "smart" oven, how would I be able to
| connect it?
| hlangeland wrote:
| Assuming you mean for instance a panel heater, then yes we will
| support it.
| Meic wrote:
| Does your API have an OpenAPI definition?
| heumn wrote:
| It does :) You can find it at the top of the page at
| https://docs.enode.io
| Meic wrote:
| Thanks! And it validates fine, congratulations. API added to
| the APIs.guru OpenAPI Directory.
| heumn wrote:
| Oh nice! Thank you so much :)
| the_arun wrote:
| May be a product idea. May / May not be related to what you are
| doing. There is a device - which we install at home or an App in
| my smartphone - that shows price of electricity at any point of
| time. Now I turn on my washer/dryer or any other electric async
| device at my convenience when price of power is low.
|
| 1. We need that device/app
|
| 2. We need that device/app to be hooking up with your API to know
| price of electricity
|
| 3. You guys will work with provider to show this data
|
| 4. Pricing - may be monthly subscription model - say $5 per month
| if my monthly saving is > $10
| [deleted]
| heumn wrote:
| We are B2B but yes. We are in talks with companies with this
| approach to help them finalize the connection between prices
| and their devices :)
| tppiotrowski wrote:
| Great idea. Disclaimer: I've never seen an EV up close.
|
| How do you access charge data from a vehicle? Does each EV model
| have Wifi that it uses to transmit charging data to a remote
| location like Tesla.com and then you view it in the Tesla app or
| does it use Bluetooth and that data is not transferred over the
| internet but only to the app?
| hlangeland wrote:
| (Almost) all new EVs have an internet connection through built
| in SIM card.
| andbjo wrote:
| Do you support BMW i3 ?
| ThorFromNor wrote:
| Yes!
| cagenut wrote:
| This is corny but I just want to say thank you. Its a cliche for
| startups to say they're going to change the world, but I truly
| believe demand-response/VPP functionality is _the_ limiting
| factor for fighting climate change and _saving_ the world.
| hlangeland wrote:
| Thank you, really appreciate that! Fun problem to work on too:)
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(page generated 2021-03-15 23:01 UTC)