Madison, WI USA – Franklin Electric announced its entrance into the Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure space with the launch of the NexPhase™ Smart EV Switchgear. As part of Franklin Electric’s new EV Systems product line, NexPhase™ is a turnkey switchgear solution containing the entire infrastructure required between utility power and up to four 150 kW Level 3 DC fast chargers. NexPhase™ is purpose-built to support the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program, helping to enable EV charging site owners to maintain NEVI’s 97% charger uptime requirements while minimizing installation, maintenance, and operating costs.

It’s approximated that up to 25% of public U.S. EV chargers are out of operation at any given time, with these outages often going undetected until a technician is physically present. The embedded NexPhase™ monitoring system allows operators to remotely identify outages, troubleshoot, and cycle power to EV chargers to bring them back online, helping to maintain uptimes, mitigate outages, and fulfill NEVI uptime reporting requirements.

By combining all EV charging electrical infrastructure into one enclosure, NexPhase™ eliminates the additional resources, time, and supply chain difficulties often associated with designing, sourcing, and installing a traditional mixed-manufacturer post-and-frame switchgear system.

Unlike common switchgear, NexPhase™ comes fully assembled, pre-wired, and factory tested, requiring only the utility and EV charger connections for installation. With a shortage of electricians qualified for EV equipment installation, NexPhase™ allows site owners and electrical contractors to execute more EV charger projects without increasing their workforces.

“NexPhase™ is designed to help accelerate the deployment of NEVI-funded DC fast charging stations throughout the country,” said Mark Seitz, EV Systems Sr. Business Unit Manager. “With $5 billion in federal funding available over the next five years, the NEVI formula program is a great opportunity to help site owners accelerate their EV charger infrastructure rollout initiatives. NexPhase™ can help fast-track NEVI funded initiatives at every touchpoint from design to installation.”

In addition to consolidating switchgear components into a single footprint, NexPhase™ features advanced intelligence to protect EV charging sites. Features include EV charger crash detection, flammable vapor monitoring, flood detection, pest/rodent mitigation, and E-stop integration capabilities.

“NexPhase™ is the result of our years of experience in providing infrastructure and monitoring solutions in the mobility space, combined with Franklin Electric’s expertise in utility and critical power monitoring,” said Seitz. “NexPhase™ and the EV charging infrastructure market is a perfect synergy for what we do best at Franklin Electric.”