The role of manufacturing in reliable EV chargers

So far, only 0.1% of Peblar chargers have ever failed in any way, as few as 10 in every 10,000. That number is no accident. It is the result of a constant, start-to-finish focus on how we build, which sits behind everything we do.

You can design a charger with reliability in mind, but how you then build it has to match. In the end, a great design is only as good as the way it is made.

Plenty of charger makers hand big parts of their production to outside factories, which means less oversight and less control over the process. That is not how we work. We build our chargers ourselves, at our own factory in Eindhoven. Why? To stay in full control, and to keep every charger consistent and reliable.

In a market where uptime, durability and service costs decide both profit and customer trust, we would rather remove the risks than pass them on.

From the line to the field: zero defects

Our production runs on one simple belief: how well you build a charger is how reliable it will be.

Every charger has to work perfectly in very different places, from underground car parks to sun-baked poles by the road. That takes a zero-defect mindset (nothing faulty gets through), a supply chain we control ourselves, and constant attention to quality.

The way we build also makes sure the thinking behind each design choice survives all the way to the factory floor, instead of getting lost between outside suppliers.

Here is what that looks like:

• Assembly lines built for consistency, with less handling by hand, the same steps every time, and fewer differences between units.
• Quality checks at several points along the line (we call this in-process quality control), not just one check at the end.
• Every circuit board tested on our own automatic tester, checking every electrical connection is correct.
• Strict rules for suppliers, so their parts meet our quality standards and match what our customers need.

This quality-first approach means we deliver the same standard every time, whether a customer is installing hundreds of chargers or thousands.

Every charger tested before it ships

Even once a charger is built, it still goes through a full set of end-of-line tests to prove the hardware and software work, one more step towards total reliability.

That means every single unit is switched on, checked that it is set up correctly, and tested for a network connection before it leaves us.

The key tests include:

• Full function test: each charger is powered up and run through automatic checks to make sure everything works as it should before it ships.
• Firmware check and setup: we install the latest approved software, check it is intact, and let the charger run its own self-tests.

Because we test every charger this way, almost no faulty units ever reach a customer, and early problems are caught before they ship. That lets customers roll out chargers at scale, confident each one will work on day one, and for years after.

Every step of design and production is carefully thought through, so that every charger leaving our factory is rocksolid, reliable and worthy of the Peblar name. Read our whitepaper to learn more.