Getting Started on V4
We’ve manufactured almost 11k of our V3 Pods so far, but no product is ever “done”. A year ago we started on our next major version of the Pod, V4, to not only make some under-the-hood improvements but to also add some crucial new features as we scale. We are always learning from our customers and market needs, so who knows what gaps we’ll identify next, but for now, I see this new hardware fulfilling our full vision for the Pod (that started on a whiteboard 6 years ago) and unlocking so many new possibilities we weren’t even aware of back then.
The Road So Far..
Before launching into the upgrades, let’s recap the V3 Pod. The most important achievement is that it addressed a few crippling issues from V1 and V2, bringing annual failure rates down to 31% and enabling thousands of households to run smoothly at all power ranges of the system. With the V3 Pod we stabilised our manufacturing processes and end of line testing, to ensure we could do back to back manufacturing runs with 99.5% or higher yields. The V3 Pods gave us the foundation to deploy different configurations of Mesh-grids as we established how to maximally cost-optimise projects and scale up overall.
But the V3 Pods also highlighted remaining gaps. We always knew relying on 2G connectivity wouldn’t last. More and more households are eager for even higher power output. We learned several lessons in both the engineering and the UX of the product. Pulling together all this feedback, here are the V4 Pod highlights.
Wi-SUN
Crucial new functionality to solve connectivity issues and reduce operational costs
The V4 Pods introduce a new method of data connectivity, called Wi-SUN. Here’s a post all about it! It’s a mesh radio protocol that enables all the Pods in a community to pass data through centralised uplinks, rather than relying on individual 2G connectivity at every Pod. In addition to supporting the normal 2G or wifi Cicadas (our open-source communication module), the new Pods will have built in Wi-SUN functionality out of the box. We’ll be looking forward to increases in uptime percentages, reduction in operating costs (for us and the customer) and overall much more sustainable projects as a result of this feature.
Stackable
Meeting market demand for higher power appliances
A single Pod outputs 1.2kW of power, sufficient for most residential needs including small cooking appliances and agricultural equipment. It is still a small percentage of users who push this power limit, but the demand to support bigger loads within the mesh-grid is consistent and growing. By enabling the V4 Pods to stack, we can combine the power output of multiple pods, enabling 2.4kW or 3.6kW output with 2 or 3 Pods respectively. Thus we give customers the ability to service higher power, which brings in more revenue and stability for the projects, in a flexible and modular way.
UX Updates
Making maintenance activities more accessible
The Pod has 2 parts of its enclosure: one small piece that can be opened in the field by a field agent and the main cover that requires more tools and fully disassembles the Pod. The main part of the enclosure is difficult to remove (tamper deterrent) and protects the core electronics. Earlier versions of the Pod had battery fuses and the programming/debugging headers inside the main enclosure, not accessible by the field-removable cover. We learned over time how much of a headache this is and ensured these both became accessible in V4.
Behind the scenes engineering upgrades
The V4 Pod contains important engineering upgrades to improve short circuit detection, current sensors, and the switch mode power supply (SMPS) design. These changes have been performing really well in testing so far and should result in greater stability and reliability in the long run.
Future-proofed with features we can build in firmware over time
Given hardware development and iteration is much slower than software/firmware, we decided to include hardware functionality for some future-facing ideas that aren’t yet validated but could unlock a bunch of opportunities. These include:
- CAN-bus to enable inter-Pod communication or communication to/from other devices
- Mesh-grid port could operate as a second PV (solar) input for standalone applications
- Wi-SUN chip has Bluetooth, which could enable communication options with mobile devices of field agents or end users
Packaging it all up
Finally, after over a year of hard work to get all these improvements built, tested, a small prototype manufacturing run for validation, and our first production manufacturing run of V4s, these new Pods are on their way to customers. We’re looking forward to using this first batch to specifically pilot all the new functionality (Wi-SUN pilot coming up first, stay tuned!) and gain confidence for larger manufacturing later this year.
No matter how many products we design or how many manufacturing runs we do, I am always impressed by what makes this possible - feedback from the customers and field, engineering design and test, preparation for manufacturing and quality control, supply chain, and more. Together we not only unlock exciting functionality from a product perspective, but most importantly, we overcome key hurdles to make reliable, affordable electrification a reality in the hardest to reach parts of the world.
If you have thoughts on what features seem most impactful or ideas for other opportunities we should look at for future Pod versions, don’t hesitate to reach out and share your feedback!
