German firm Siemens is offering its ‘VersiCharge’ as a solution to the charging needs of electric vehicles (EVs) in the Asia Pacific region, including the targeted commercial rollout of EVs in the Philippines.

In dangling this product to market, Siemens noted that VersiCharge “enables electric vehicles to be charged quickly, safely and cost-effectively,” and that it can be connected intelligently to 24 other units to create a network of chargers.

The EV charging solution has likewise been designed “suitable for private and public environments,” which is the same policy thrust that the emerging EV market in the Philippines is pursuing.

“Siemens has launched VersiCharge, a sleek and compact electric vehicle alternating current (AC) smart charger capable of delivering up to 22-kilowatt of power through a type-2 plug or socket in Asia Pacific,” the company noted in a statement to the media.

According to Siddhant Gupta, head of Future Grid for Siemens in Asia Pacific, “we’ve developed the VersiCharge with sustainability, optimization and longevity in mind,” as he noted that such was anchored on the company’s desire “to help our customers meet their carbon reduction targets with a future-proof product that is easy to maintain and scale.”

To date, Siemens noted that it already started delivering its EV charging solutions in more than 35 countries -- across flurry of end-users in car, bus, fleet and truck markets in the Asia Pacific region.

The company expounded that VersiCharge “can be installed in any parking lot in public housing, private homes, condominiums, shopping malls, offices, airports and hospitals.”

The setting up could be done either as wall-mounted or pedestal-mounted; and “it comes with an in-built RFID (radio frequency identification) reader for user authentication.”

Siemens guaranteed that its smart charger “is compliant to IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and UL (Underwriters Laboratories) standards and meets a protect class of IP56 (ingress protection) and IK10 (impact protection rating); making it weather-proof for outdoor use and able to last for a long time.”

The German firm added its EV charger can be seamlessly tied “into many network topologies,” including with GSM/4G/LTE, wifi, Ethernet and Modbus, and it is likewise compatible with OCPP (open charge point protocol) 1.6 backend protocol.

“With simple touch buttons and LED indicators for key functions, the unit is intuitive and simple to operate,” the company stressed.

Additionally, the VersiCharge mobile app – that is available on google play stores and Apple itunes – would be able to accelerate “the usability and configurability of the charger when connected.”

Siemens explained that the app could help users “to schedule charging time, view energy consumption, check charge status and more.”

It thus stressed that “the ability to preset the start time of the charging process, in two-hour intervals (between 2 to 8 hours), enables users to take advantage of economical electricity rates outside of peak periods and to significantly lower electricity costs.”