ICNC proved itself, once again, to be the premier yearly conference for the EV Charging and Energy Management industry in Europe. The new venue at Berlin’s iconic Templehof Airport (THF) proved a smart move by Hubject since it offers a huge exhibition space that comfortably accommodated the ever-growing number of exhibitors, in a well-ventilated open space while protecting everyone from the elements. No rain this year, but the temperatures soared. While range anxiety is still a concern for EV drivers, charge anxiety is quickly catching up. A recent survey by Quantum Media showed that charge anxiety caused more stress than range anxiety for 44% of EV drivers, which aligns well the theme for this year’s conference, “Charging Towards Reliability.”
It was clear from the number of sessions on network reliability, on the main stage, in the tech village, and the masterclass zone, both as frontal presentations and panel discussions. The main stage kicked off with a panel discussion that highlighted how critical network reliability is to the mass-market adoption of EVs. At about the same time, a presentation from Alex Thornton, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation Energy related how Open-Source software for EV chargers can help solve reliability challenges. Towards the end of day 1, Driivz’s presentation on the main stage to a full hall emphasized the critical role that an EV charging management platform plays in network reliability.
Smart energy management is key to EV charging network reliability
While it was not the expressed theme of the conference, smart energy management received a lot of attention this year.
As he moved across the stage, Driivz’s CEO, Andy Bennet, showed how smart energy management can overcome the grid constraints that many CPOs are experiencing. He showed how providing energy resiliency stabilizes the network, enabling CPOs to meet demand and increase the ROI of their charging infrastructure without upgrading the electrical infrastructure on their sites.
On day 2, the panel discussion on “How Smart Energy can Deliver a Great Customer Experience” discussed similar ideas at length. Merlin Lauenburg from Tibber showed how, with metering infrastructure in place, regulatory support, the right incentives, and user-friendly experiences, end users can become accustomed to managing their energy consumption, especially with regards to their EVs.
EVs have huge potential to contribute to a country’s energy resiliency. As battery storage on wheels, it’s clear that they can offer enormous flexibility to balance the energy markets. As an extension of home energy storage, EVs present drivers with the potential to trade the energy stored in their vehicles and line their pockets with hundreds of Euros. However, there is still a way to go. Countries need regulatory frameworks to make this happen, smart meters need to become widespread, and there are many interoperability issues to iron out before the whole system works in harmony. Last year, the theme of ICNC was Plug and Charge. If bidirectional charging gets enough support from the industry in the coming months, then perhaps the theme of ICNC2025 will be Plug and Discharge.
The importance of EV battery health
While selling energy stored in your EV battery back to the grid sounds like a worthwhile proposition, you need to ask yourself, how that affects the quality of the battery. This is exactly the domain of Volytica Diagnostics, the winner of this year’s ICNC Startup Award. While most EVs on the roads today were bought new, this is changing. As EV adoption continues and they become more commonplace, a used EV market will develop and grow. When considering a 2nd hand EV, several questions come to mind.
As the most expensive component in an EV, replacing the battery can cost over $20,000. While this is a significant factor for consumers, it’s a critical consideration for fleet owners for whom a vehicle’s residual value weighs heavily in the company’s bottom line. Volytica have developed the tools and technology to assess an EV’s battery health providing transparency for the sale of a secondhand EV.
So, if the first question you used to ask when buying a used car was, “What’s its mileage?”, then Volytica have hit on something for used EVs: “Battery health is the new mileage”.
All facets of the EV charging industry were there
As usual, all the industry movers and shakers were there. EVSE OEMs showed the latest battery-buffered megawatt chargers, while payment terminal vendors showed their latest kiosk-mode solutions, allowing CPOs to connect multiple chargers up to a single payment terminal. Some of these terminals are going way beyond EV charging and are taking advantage of dwell time, allowing drivers to order coffee and a croissant while they plug in so it’s ready for them when they go into the lounge or C-store as their EV charges up. CPOs and eMSPs were also there, as well as EV Charging and Energy Management Platform providers like Driivz. There were also more specific solutions dedicated to handling billing and payments or smart energy management as well as more niche solutions like providing PKI certificates for roaming transactions.
Promoting EV adoption into the future
EV adoption is moving out of its infancy. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably one of the early adopters and it might look like EVs are becoming mainstream. But we’re not quite there yet. Once we set aside front runners like Norway and California, we’re just reaching the tipping point in countries that are ahead of the curve, while in many others, EV adoption still looks like a distant fantasy. From many of the sessions at ICNC this year, topics that came up to promote EV adoption into the future included:
- Reliable and plentiful EV charging infrastructure (of course)
- Continued government incentives
- Improving public perception
- Improved regulatory frameworks
- Better interoperability between different players in the ecosystem
- Transformation of energy management
- Cost transparency
- More technological improvements
- …and more.
For “your EV” to simply become “your car”, as the speaker from ChargeX said, “EV charging needs to work for any car, any driver, first time, every time.” Until we get there, I’m curious to know if any of the above points will be the theme Hubject selects for ICNC 2025.
