Making money on EV Charging - Looking for feedback

[Doug Hoang]

Hey everyone,

Sorry if this is the wrong place. I am looking for feedback on whether or not what I made is useful? Also if anyone wants to test it out and you're in CA, I'd love to loan you one to try to get feedback.

I noticed, At least in California (where I live), there are a ton of electric cars and a lot of apartments that are detached but are connected to 1 meter, making it impossible to understand who used energy and how much they owe.

Some of my friends just plug in and end up stealing electricity from the HOA or the landlord, which is not great. I regularly spend $2000 on electricity with my Tesla and I can see if you're in a big apartment complex, you just won't have the visibility in this.

So I made a direct replacement 120V outlet that tracks energy usage and collects payment. The landlord can add margin on top of the electric cost to make more money. The tenant just needs to scan a QR code, enter payment (like apple pay), and then energy starts flowing.

It pretty much looks like a standard outlet (but a little bit bigger) and I designed it so it can be swapped with the old (not smart) outlet in about 10 minutes. I have been stress testing it for the past 3 weeks and I use it in my own garage and a couple of my friend's garages.

I'm not trying to sell anything but looking for feedback, so I apologize in advance if I triggered someone. I'm just trying to add value to other property owners.

Here are some pictures of it:

Here is a video of it: 

Thanks!
Doug