xGov 207: DigiLeaf Electric Vehicle Chargers

Governance
1

id: 207
period: 3
title: DigiLeaf Electric Vehicle Chargers
author: Trenton Austin
discussions-to: xGov-207:
company_name: DigiLeaf Inc.
category: Infrastructure
focus_area: Renewable
open_source: No
amount_requested: 300000
status: Final

Abstract

DigiLeaf is an Energy Token that users may earn with solar panels and spend at our EV charging stations with the goal of building a truly decentralized carbon neutral grid.

Our hardware includes:

  1. Solar panels - (Residential and Commercial)

  2. Inverters (Residential and Commercial)

  3. Type 2 Electric Vehicle Chargers (Residential and Commercial)

  4. Type 3 Super Chargers (Commercial Only)

  5. Power storage (Residential and Commercial)

Team

DigiLeaf is an experienced team of environmental engineers and blockchain developers.

Experience with Algorand

From creation in 2022, DigiLeaf has operated with consistent uptime in:

DigiLeaf DApp - Connecting hardware

License Portal - Buy/Renew Licenses

DigiLeaf Mobile App

(i) Finding chargers

(ii) Monitoring hardware

(iii) Buy Leaf$ with credit card, Sell Leaf$ to bank

Rewards - To owners of DigiLeaf solar hardware

Charger Uptime - Connectivity and availability

Present Proposal

DigiLeaf proposes to operate a (4) stall 250 Amp super charger station in Southern California

Future Blueprint

The first milestone can be created within 3 months.

Milestone 1: 300,000 Algorand

Architectural and Engineering design plans for selected location for the (4) stall 250 Amp super charger station.

Land lease signed (doesn’t cover rent) and plans are approved by the city.

Milestone 2: 800,000 Algorand

Acquisition of hardware.

Beginning of installation of transformer and hardware

Benefits for the community

  1. Consistent daily transaction volume via chargers. Each charger can fully charge about 15,000 vehicles a year.
  2. New Algorand holders who would not normally use crypto currency. * Support of actual use case scenario helping crypto currency as a whole.
  3. Low carbon emissions on the roads.
  4. Increase access to electrical vehicle chargers.* Increase decentralize the grid.

Additional information

The land available for a long term lease depends on when we are awarded funds. We currently have a short list of locations in the San Diego County area and are ready to move on design plans immediately.

2

Interesting concept, but, it sounds like we are basically being asked to fund a startup. It’s just my opinion, but I don’t think these sorts of asks are conducive to informed decision making via xGov. There’s simply too much under the hood stuff that needs hands on attention to know if the business model is sound.

Instead, I think that this is a pitch better suited to Algorand Ventures where funding is granted in exchange for an equity or token allocation. Have you sought such funding? If so, what was the feedback?

1 Like
3

We are not a startup at this point as we have been selling solar for two years and chargers for 1. All of our hardware is custom built and already completed. We do not need any funding for RND, the funding is strictly for the land lease, hardware and installation costs. We are not looking to exchange equity for any part of our company so that would not work for us. We currently have two separate 20 stall super charger locations under development but they are not owned by us, our system will only be taking TXN fees. So the goal with this proposal is to obtain and operate our own station and an xGov award would help us push our timeline forward by one to two years.

Side note - We truly believe in our hardware and have also been working with ideas of shared TXN fees to support future XGov’s or some other location that can help more users.

4

I want to be clear, my comments are purely from the perspective of what I personally view as wise usage of xGov and its funds. I share them not as a critique of you or your business, but as a point of discussion for xGovs in general as we all publicly noodle our way through how to allocate a finite set of resources.

While I am comfortable spending on core infrastructure/public goods of the chain (eg explorers, indexers, wallets, tooling, etc). I’m less comfortable giving away money to help pay for infrastructure of a business that utilizes blockchain in some fashion, but whose infrastructure is not a public good of the chain. In those cases, there would really need to be a lot of bang for the buck for me to be persuaded.

I understand that there is some potential return communal benefits in the form of network usage and transaction fees. But, that’s still highly speculative and, given the size of the ask, it’s doubtful (at 1.1M Algo among all milestones that’s 1.1B transactions that would need to be generated before the transaction fees paid back the allocation).

Again, not knocking your business or you for asking, this is just my thought process in evaluating things.

5

Of course. But what we feel is something more core is use case that will exist beyond the flows of coins and will continue to have use even at the markets lowest of lows. From our perspective more dApp’s doing the same thing or adding more of the same features isnt going to help Algorand in the long run. Returning via fees was only an idea that actual volume and awarness that comes from our public chargers is pretty exstisive already.

Our main point is that people spent billions on NFT’s, and where are they now? DApp needs will change, more development will be needed always to keep up. With DigiLeaf and our Super Chargers its a staple for Algroand transactions and use cases for ever, or until we figure out cold fusion :wink: but we may still need/use batterys.

As to the speculation, it is anything but speculative. California is on a fast track to 100% EV sales and EV chargers are under supplied. Most super chargers have lines morning and night. This is already the first of its kind allowing users to pay in crypto or via credit card. But even the credit card transactions route through Algorand first.

We understand that this business model people may be unfamiliar with, which is why we have done it in milestones. Once a timeline is alotted and we can secure the lease, we will be able to out line the actual specifc costs and estimated volume. These numbers are very location based but please feel free to ask questions on any of the numbers and we would love to explain how it all works.

6

Hi DigiLeaf, after check your socials you are basically inactive on both Instagrand and Twitter.

Where do you market your product?
How do you obtain new business and revenue?
Who have you partnered with and who is the owner of super charger locations that are being built?

Cool concept but doesn’t seem to be a business, there is no phone number for customer support just a contact us form. These are expensive products that I’m sure are in market value as I don’t know but it’s seems like a shell of a business.

Is there any way to see transactions and sales?

7

“Where do you market your product?”
We have a sales team as our main goal at the moment in super charger placement. We keep people updated on Twitter/X if you ever need support the Team there is very diligent.

“How do you obtain new business and revenue?”
Could you please explain further what you mean?

“Who have you partnered with and who is the owner of super charger locations that are being built?”
We are ready to announce the locations once permits are approved and ground break has started. There are many things that go into building a location as well as this is a competitive field. As such, we are not in the business of giving out our leads, respectfully.

“Cool concept but doesn’t seem to be a business, there is no phone number for customer support just a contact us form. These are expensive products that I’m sure are in market value as I don’t know but it’s seems like a shell of a business.”
If you would like a number to reach out to, please message the Twitter Team and they will connect you with a local sales rep. The lower tier products are more mining specific. The solar and chargers are very expensive (we are no more or less expensive then anyone else), but depending on your location we have many incentives we can get consumers pre approved for in government rebates and tax credits. We apply for those for you free of charge.

“Is there any way to see transactions and sales?”
Of course you may check our blockchain data, though we are not a public company and do not share records. Our sales and installs range from our mobile products to our residential and commercial solar to to the Type 2/3/4 EV Chargers.

Thanks for your questions, please let us know if there is anything else you would like us to go into more detail on.

1 Like
8

Not sure you answered the questions, but have more of a broad statement. No one should have to reach out on twitter for a phone number. (very suspect)

Honestly there are a lot of red flags and more information to uncover. I’m not sure this is something Algorand should be putting money into as this time. If you have solid answers with transparency would be much different.

9

The options on the website are to set up an appointment for a 1 on 1 call. We have customers all around the world so getting them the right person is important. As well as ours chargers have had pamflets and or buisness cards on the mounting pole so we have never run into any contact issues.

If you see a red flag please be sure to outline it so may we more properly help inform. We have invested over 500k into the development of DigiLeaf. We have never partook or asked for funds before. We are at the point where we can make a huge difference for Algorand with physical infrastructure. Giving Algorand a real world use case that doesnt depend on trends of people buying data or trading coins.