SPAN: Smart electrical panels with circuit-level control

SPAN combines electrical distribution, circuit monitoring and load control to help homes coordinate electrification and battery backup.

Best for: Homes adding EV charging, electric appliances or batteries where load management matters.
Less suited to: A non-invasive clip-on monitor when replacing or extending the electrical panel is outside scope.
Deployment: Installed and commissioned electrical panels linked to the SPAN Home App.
Data in: Circuit-level energy information and compatible battery-system status.
Pricing: Panel, accessories and installation costs depend on model and project; obtain an installer quote.

Overview

SPAN puts energy monitoring and load control inside the home's electrical panel. It can show circuit-level consumption and change which loads are powered, making it more than a display attached to the main supply. The company mission centres on enabling electrification, particularly when households add vehicle charging, electric heating or storage. This architecture is useful where the distribution board becomes a control point for the whole home. It is also a different intervention from fitting a separate meter: the panel forms part of the electrical installation and requires professional commissioning.

Offering

The current SPAN Panel range covers 16 to 48 controllable circuits, with model choices for different installation arrangements. The MAIN 40 technical page describes a main-breaker panel and supports combining it with MLO 48, MLO 24 and MAIN 16 panels at the same premises under one Home App account. The value of that range is practical: a small subpanel, a main service panel and a larger distribution arrangement do not need the same circuit count or incoming-breaker configuration. SPAN publishes separate technical and accessory documents for those choices.

Technology

SPAN's panel description connects live energy information with circuit control and battery-backup priorities. A homeowner can change which loads remain available during an outage, while the system estimates remaining battery duration. Its MAIN 40 installation guidance requires commissioning through the SPAN Installer App before linking the panel to the Home App. This establishes a defined installer-to-owner workflow rather than a generic network meter. Public product pages do not provide a universal open API or protocol contract, so third-party automation should be evaluated against documented support for the exact panel and software arrangement.

Markets

The battery compatibility information names specific configurations, including Tesla Powerwall, FranklinWH, SolarEdge and Enphase systems. Some Enphase combinations require a SPAN Remote Meter Kit, illustrating why a battery brand alone is not enough to establish the installation requirements. SPAN also describes load-management functions that can help a project avoid increasing electrical service capacity, with applicability depending on the loads and design. The technical page provides a project-planning route, and the limited warranty ties coverage to authorised installation and commissioning. These are important considerations for an electrical distribution product with software control.

Company

The company's own founder essay, written by Arch Rao, describes work on SPAN Smart Panel since 2018 and explains the rationale for adding intelligence to the electrical panel. That is evidence of product-development history, rather than a separately verified incorporation date. The current company page identifies San Francisco as SPAN's headquarters, a research lab in South San Francisco and an office in Bengaluru. Its published legal identity is SPAN.io, Inc. Those details distinguish the home-electrification company from unrelated businesses using the same name in software and other industries. Its founding story dates the company to summer 2018, when Arch Rao founded it after working on Tesla Energy products.