Announcement: Introducing Powerfill - A New Chapter

[goekay]

Dear community,

I hope this message finds you well. After careful thought and reflection, I’m excited to announce the next step in our journey: Powerfill, a new SaaS company I am building with my co-founder to expand beyond the basics of SteVe.

Why Powerfill?

I started working on SteVe in 2013 – more than 10 years ago! Life and circumstances were simpler back then. Working on SteVe has been a rewarding but time-consuming task, especially with the DIY nature of the platform. It has led to an overwhelming amount of support requests (disguised as real issues).

The scope of maintaining and evolving SteVe, particularly with big changes like the OCPP 2.0 implementation, has become more than a single person can reasonably handle. This is not a “hobby project I tinker with at weekends” anymore. With limited time and resources, it has become really hard to continue working on significant changes beyond small tweaks here and there.

To ensure that we continue offering a robust and growing service to all users —from homeowners to businesses— Powerfill is being created to provide a more streamlined, user-friendly and professional solution.

What to Expect

Powerfill will offer a range of plans tailored to both personal and commercial use. Here's a glimpse of what's coming:

• Free Plan: Homeowners can use Powerfill without any cost. This plan is ideal for personal use at home for charging 1 or 2 EVs without the hassle of DIY setup and maintenance that comes with SteVe.
• Premium Plans: For businesses and professionals, Powerfill will offer more advanced features at varying price points, optimized for larger operations and more complex needs.

What About SteVe?

SteVe will continue to live and evolve. It will be maintained and receive new features. The good news is, that the status quo should get better with the financial backing and the focus it will receive indirectly. The two platforms will probably start to diverge:

• Basic Needs & Personal Use: Any feature that targets personal/private use or fulfills a basic need will remain part of SteVe. This includes core functionalities and updates that the open-source community relies on.
• Enterprise Features: More complex, enterprise-oriented features (e.g. billing) will be available exclusively through Powerfill, allowing us to cater better to businesses and organizations with specific needs.

We are aware that this is a fine line to walk. These are just initial ideas. The exact strategy and details will, hopefully, materialize over time.

The Future

I believe that this change will benefit all parties. SteVe will remain the go-to for DIY enthusiasts and private individuals, while Powerfill will make it easier for those who need a professional, scalable solution. I am incredibly grateful for your support and enthusiasm over the years, and I hope you’ll join me in this new chapter.

If you are interested, please visit powerfill.co and sign up for early access.

Thank you for being part of this journey!

Warm regards,
Sevket
Maintainer of SteVe / Co-founder and CTO of Powerfill