Swiss authority ESTI approves Easee documentation

After Easee electric car chargers, distributed by Simplee, were taken off the market by several European authorities, the Swiss market supervisory authority ESTI has now successfully checked the documentation and product safety of the Easee wallboxes Home and Charge, certifying that Easee wallboxes meet the requirements applicable in Switzerland.

Easee Home and Charge wallboxes have now been given a documented clean bill of health from Switzerland after they were banned from sale in Sweden last year when the Elsälerhetverket, a Swedish electrical safety authority, discovered defects in the Easee Home during a product test in February 2023. As the “Charge” product also uses the same technology, this wallbox was also affected. There are several allegations that affect the safety of the product. Easee objected to these and explained its view of the standard tests. However, the authority still imposed a ban on the sale of both products in Sweden in mid-March 2023.

As a result, the products were also banned from sale in other countries, or the respective national authorities began their own tests. This was also the case in Switzerland, where the Swiss Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations (ESTI) examined the documentation of the affected products – this was one of the points criticized by the Elsälerhetverket. The ESTI accepted this documentation. “That was definitely the nicest letter we’ve ever received. ESTI has confirmed that the documentation is complete – also in terms of safety,” says Deborah Bottana, co-CEO of Simplee, in an interview published on the company website.

“In retrospect, it has to be said that, from our point of view, Easee made bad decisions and filled positions with people who did not have the necessary experience and expertise to take responsibility for correct documentation,” says Michi Keel, the second co-CEO, in the same interview. “Much more important, however, is dealing with errors when they come to light. Easee has restructured the entire organization, revised the processes and massively deepened the documentation.”

While the situation surrounding Easee wallboxes seems to be calming down in Switzerland, this is not yet the case in Sweden. The Elsälerhetverket had given Easee until the end of March 2024 to implement an action plan with measures to eliminate risks to the devices already installed. In mid-February, it became known that the authority had rejected the plan submitted by Easee as inadequate. The case will be heard in court in April.

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