What is Smart EV Charging?
Some forecasts place 85 million EVs on the roads globally by the end of 2025; a 33% increase over 2024. To satisfy the ensuing growth in the demand for EV charging, by 2035, utilities will have to increase the supply of electricity by up to 35X compared to 2023 values, to a staggering 3,600 TWh. But that’s an expensive process and it takes time. As utilities struggle to increase grid capacity to keep up with the growing demand, lead times to getting a power connection for new EV charging installations in the EU can take up to 24 months. Smart EV charging may be the solution to grid constraints for network operators.
Smart EV charging enables network operators to optimize how all energy sources at a site are used to accommodate EV charging while considering unmanaged loads and the varying costs of energy from grid.
How is EV Smart Charging Done?
Smart EV charging is enabled by a centralized EV charging management platform, and involves communication between the platform, the charger, the car, and in some cases, the electricity provider. Through data exchanged between these channels of communication, the platform controls the flow of electricity at a site while employing techniques like:
- Dynamic load balancing: distributing the electrical capacity available for charging to EVs according to preconfigured priority criteria.
- Peak shaving: reducing the amount electricity allocated for EV charging to accommodate unmanaged loads and prevent spikes in consumption
- Renewable load shifting: leveraging renewables and local battery storage
- Dynamic cost optimization: integrating with energy markets to bid on day-ahead markets and hourly spot pricing
Essentially, the charge point management system (CPMS) ensures that the right amount of energy is optimally consumed from the right resource and gets to the right power consumer at the right time.
The Benefits of EV Smart Charging
EV smart charging provides significant benefits to the EV charging ecosystem as a whole – from the electricity provider to individual EV drivers. It optimizes and stabilizes energy flow within a balanced grid while ensuring more reliable service and quality power.
Overcome Limited Site Capacity
With smart EV charging, a CPMS uses dynamic load balancing to distribute energy available for EV charging, ensuring all vehicles get a share of available capacity according to pre-configured priority criteria. For example, a driver who is subscribed to a premium plan on a charging network may get a larger share of the available power, but even a “guest” who is roaming on the network will still be able to charge, albeit, more slowly. The ability to dynamically change the load balancing according to the number and types of vehicles (or subscribers) charging eliminates the need to impose static power limits on individual chargers and enables network operators to charge up to six times as many EVs at a site without upgrading electrical infrastructure compared to unmanaged charging.
Avoid Tripping Breakers and Demand Charges
When a thermostat kicks a C-store’s air-conditioner into action, the site’s electricity consumption can peak. If all chargers are currently occupied, this could trip breakers and bring the whole site down. To avoid this kind of scenario, a CPMS uses peak shaving to reduce the amount of electricity allocated to EV charging to accommodate unmanaged loads like air-conditioners or a carwash. At the same time, this prevents a site from exceeding its contracted peak capacity which could incur costly demand charges from the servicing utility.
Increase Energy Resiliency of EV Charging Sites
Onsite renewable energy sources and local battery energy storage systems (BESS) can provide backup power to supplement the grid in times of high demand. This makes an EV charging site more energy resilient and ensures service continuity to provide drivers with a seamless charging experience. Even in the event of a grid outage, the site can continue to provide EV charging using renewable energy and energy stored in the BESS as long as those are available.
Lower Energy Costs
Onsite renewables and local BESS also play a pivotal role in reducing energy costs for the site owner. With granular control over how and when energy is sourced for onsite usage, the CPMS can prefer renewables and local BESS when grid energy prices are high and replenish the BESS when grid energy costs are low. Similarly, by integrating with energy markets, the network operator can use the CPMS to source energy from the grid more cheaply by bidding on both day-ahead markets and hourly spot pricing.
Generate Revenue
2025 may be a turning point for profitability of EV charging networks, and one way that network operators can generate revenue is through demand response programs. Through the CPMS’s support for OpenADR, a network operator can reduce power consumption from the grid when a demand response event is triggered. While meeting demand by sourcing energy from onsite renewables and BESS, the operator will enjoy significant compensation from the utility for meeting contractual agreements to help balance the grid. Similarly, with rapid response times from an onsite controller, the operator can bid on energy flexibility markets and rapidly reduce energy drawn from the grid when a bid is activated. Surplus energy generated from renewable sources, or stored in the BESS can even be sold back to the grid to generate new revenue streams.
Mitigate Unreliable Internet Connections
EV chargers communicate with the back end CPMS over the internet, which may be a wired connection or over the cellular network. Either way, the internet is not an extremely reliable resource and may go down. In this scenario, chargers are offline and effectively become unmanaged loads. By pre-configuring chargers to limit the power they can draw in the event of a disruption to communications, the network operator can ensure that all chargers continue to operate without exceeding the site’s electrical capacity or causing high peak loads.
Increase Grid Resiliency
Apart from site owners, EV charging network operators and EV drivers, utilities also benefit from EV smart charging. By reducing the need for increased electrical capacity, smart EV charging enables utilities to postpone, and even eliminate, costly grid upgrades that would otherwise be needed to support the exponential growth in EV adoption. A variety of means such as demand response programs, time-of-use incentives, flexibility markets, and more, are all facilitated through smart EV charging and help keep the grid stable and balanced even in times of peak demand.
Support Fleet Electrification
Fleets are front-runners for EV adoption. Not only is there increasing evidence that fleet EVs are outperforming their internal combustion engine counterparts for total cost of ownership, but fleet managers must be mindful of their corporate sustainability goals. Both in Europe and in the US, fleets are subject to government policies and regulations set down to reduce emissions, but at the same time, they can enjoy incentives, such as tax benefits and subsidies that will help them comply. By increasing the capacity of a fleet depot for EV charging, reducing energy costs, improving energy resiliency, and more, smart EV charging plays a pivotal role in helping fleets along their electrification journey.
Smart EV Charging is a Necessity
As EV adoption accelerates and grid constraints become more pressing, smart EV charging is not just an advantage—it’s a necessity. It empowers network operators to scale efficiently, enables fleets to meet sustainability goals, and helps utilities maintain grid stability amid rising demand. By intelligently managing energy sources, adapting to real-time conditions, and unlocking new revenue streams, smart charging is key to transforming the EV charging ecosystem into a resilient, scalable, and economically viable infrastructure.
Driivz’s smart EV charging solution has the flexibility to support sites set up with virtually any configuration of EV charging stations, renewable energy sources, BESS, and unmanaged loads. The solution can be applied at any scale, from a single site to a multi-site campus through to a city and even a whole country.
