Swedish authority discontinues Easee proceedings

It has been more than two years since the Easee affair began: in mid-February 2023, Elsäkerhetsverket tested several wall boxes and, according to its own statements, discovered several defects in the Easee Home and Charge, some of which ‘only’ concerned the documentation, but others also affected a key safety feature: the built-in RCD circuit breaker. It subsequently emerged that the Norwegian company did not actually install an RCD in a standard shaft in the wallboxes in question, but instead relied on a solution integrated into the overall system with software and sensors that works like a conventional RCD. Since the software solution checks safety at the start of each charging process and every 24 hours, Easee claims that the solution should actually be safer.

However, it was not a residual current device as stated, which is why the Swedish authority did not follow Easee’s interpretation and imposed a sales ban on the two products a few weeks later. This triggered EU proceedings, which led to further sales bans in other countries. Elsälerhetverket had given Easee from December 2023 to the end of March 2024 to implement an action plan with measures to eliminate the risks posed by the devices already installed, but the authority rejected this plan as insufficient at the beginning of 2024.

As a result, Easee Sweden was even placed under the supervision of Elsäkerhetsverket – this supervisory procedure is now coming to an end. “This was an important process. We were in close dialogue with the authorities, openly disclosed our own systems and used the time to improve both our processes and our documentation. It is positive that the process is now complete,” says Emil Hjemli Borgersen, Nordic Sales Director at Easee. “We are now putting this chapter behind us. It has cost us a lot, but we are now in a stronger position. We have used the experience to develop better products and better structures. Now it’s time to look ahead.”

Source: Info via email

This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for electrive’s German edition