CASE STUDY: ElaadNL

Enabling EV drivers to charge at ElaadNL’s headquarters while balancing energy demand

IMPLEMENTING INNOVATIVE SMART EV CHARGING ENERGY MANAGEMENT

  • CLIENT
    ElaadNL
  • SECTOR
    Smart EV charging infrastructure
  • SOLUTIONS
    SmartChain Energy management Solution
  • IMPACT
    • Balancing the energy demand of 57 charge points
    • Real-time insights on charging stations uptime and alerts
    • Reducing the total capacity demand
    • Helping promote the use of clean energy sources

Overview

Global electricity demand is mounting as the adoption of EVs increases. The growing burden on existing electricity grids means that energy sources need to be optimized and balanced to provide effective demand response. ElaadNL, the smart EV charging knowledge and innovation center, was one of the first organisations to recognize that and invested in implementing OCPP-based smart charging at their headquarters.

Challenge

Dozens of ElaadNL’s employees and visitors drive EVs. The company wanted  to demonstrate the value of Smart Charging by running tests and experiments and showcase its possibilities.

ElaadNL also aspired to showcase its dedication to being part of the EV future and promote the use of open protocols like OCPP and the use of clean energy. To meet these aims, it knew that it needed to introduce smart energy management capabilities at its SMARTSITE campus. The company selected Driivz™ to power the project, continuing a successful working relationship that began in 2014 with the world’s largest EV charging software migration (EvnetNL).

ElaadNL SMARTSITE powered by Driivz

Approach

Driivz is providing energy management tools to SMARTSITE’s facility manager so ElaadNL can manage its energy in an optimized way. Smart meters have been installed by ElaadNL in every charge point and, on the site’s electrical topology. ElaadNL collects the meters’ data and analyzes the amount of energy consumed by all the site’s buildings, how much energy is being used by EVs for charging, plus available levels of energy and electricity quality data.

Based on this information, Driivz’s smart energy algorithms can instruct SMARTSITE’s renewable resources where to send energy, plus define each charger how much energy to allocate to an EV. This decision-making would be based on several factors, including power availability, the priority level and estimated departure time of each EV and the state of charge, which refers to the level of charge of an electric battery relative to its capacity. Driivz’s algorithms could also take into account priorities relating to billing plans.

Driivz is also helping ElaadNL define which chargers receive energy from green energy resources only. This is possible by Driivz’s algorithms   which process data from power generated by solar and wind resources during weekends or after regular office hours.

However, the most important solution Driivz is providing on the project is its SmartChain™ Energy Manager. This system ensures that the right amount of energy gets to the right resource at the right time by efficiently distributing all available power. It also intelligently manages energy chains to integrate batteries and renewables, plus delivers insights on the activity of both EVs and charge points. Driivz’s SmartChain™ Energy Manager is already delivering cost savings at SMARTSITE as it is has removed the need for ElaadNL to invest in a local energy balancing system.

Today, Driivz’s EV charging management platform is fully compliant and certified for Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 1.6,. OCPP 1.6 represents the evolution of smart charging by enabling flexible charging profile notifications to be sent to the charge points. This, in turn, allows for the optimal use of sustainable power and optimum grid capacity. Driivz and ElaadNL have been collaborating to enable the deployment of EV charging networks based on OCPP standards for several years, including on the Orchestrating Smart Charging in Mass Deployment project.

Furthermore, Driivz complies with ISO 15118 and OCPP 2.0 enabling vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communications – making it future-proofed.

“The results of our SMARTSITE project with Driivz will be of great benefit to the whole EV industry when it comes to identifying and realizing the capabilities of smart charging and energy management. I believe we will work with Driivz on similar projects in the future, pushing the boundaries of research and innovation even further.”

Thijs van Wijk,
Test Laboratory Manager, ElaadNL

Results

Since the introduction of Driivz’s advanced management tools to the SMARTSITE campus, ElaadNL are provided with real-time insights on charging stations uptime and alerts which help them take the required measures and service the stations when needed. This has led to an increase in the satisfaction levels of ElaadNL staff who drive EVs.

Working together with ElaadNL on OCPP and smart charging, while leveraging the experience in the field and at the SMARTSITE, Driivz has created a platform which can lower total capacity demand (or peak power demand) and use customers’ preferences to make the best of the available renewable energy.

Read more of our case studies

The Decision Maker’s Guide to Selecting an EV Charging Management Platform