An Atom Power EV charging pedestal
If you see a purple pedestal the next time you go to charge your electric vehicle, you’re likely tapping into Atom Power. Quick Charging Stations
It’s in a different category than most other charging systems, says Ryan Kennedy, founder and CEO of the North Carolina-based company. “We call it networked energy.”
Atom Power invented the first and only UL-listed commercial solid-state digital circuit breaker. It’s dubbed as the world’s safest and fastest for smart power and more sustainable energy distribution.
In other words, the Atom Power charging solution, formerly Purpl, is a new way of thinking about powering up EVs (and other things that need electricity).
The purple pedestals are “just a thing to hold the wire” that delivers power, Kennedy explains. Those wires go to breakers in a central location that do the actual charging.
Typical systems house electronics in the pedestal. Atom Power uses an energy management system in its breakers to reduce energy costs, respond to demand changes and allow for easy expansion.
“Things get very problematic once you get past a few chargers at a location,” Kennedy says. He points to a J.D. Power study that EV charging stations in the United States are plagued by reliability issues.
Ryan Kennedy, founder and CEO of Atom Power
Atom Power didn’t invent the circuit breaker. That was originally Thomas Edison’s idea, back in the late 1800s. The company was founded in 2014 and improved on old technology to create a universal and software-defined product, Kennedy says.
He says everything that consumes energy needs protection, visibility and control. “We look at the electrical space as ubiquitous ... So therefore you should have a universal product.”
Atom Power’s first UL listing was in 2019. The first orders for purple pedestals came in 2022. UL stands for Underwriters Laboratories, which conducts safety testing of consumer products.
Atom Power is in the process of installing 1,000 EV units in roughly 10 states, Kennedy says. “That’s going to be changing drastically even by next month and certainly by the end of the year.”
Atom expects to ship a total of 9,000 units in 2023. That’s compared to ChargePoint, the largest EV charging network in the U.S., with more than 27,000 stations, and its closest rival, Tesla, with about 6,000 stations, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Still, Atom’s plans include products for a New York City multi-family EV charging project, one partnership with Carolina Cat Power Systems and another with Arkansas-based Curtis Stout, which provides equipment and services for electric power systems. Atom Power’s website lists other charging projects with Hampton by Hilton, Duke Energy and Goodwill.
Atom is adding more than 200 jobs at its Huntersville headquarters, tripling its workforce there, the Charlotte Business Journal reports.
public electric car charging stations In August 2022, the company closed a $100 million growth round from South Korea-based SK Inc and SK Energy. Earlier this year, Atom Power completed its first international EV charging installation in South Korea.