8 different takes on EV charging market offerings – highway of innovation trends 

Electric Vehicles have been on a meteoric rise over the past several years, going from a niche technology to commonplace.  Consumers and businesses that adopt this technology for the first time are presented with a number of new and complex purchasing decisions which can be daunting – including where, when, and how to charge.  

Energy retailers have been given an immense opportunity to support these consumers and businesses, opening new customer acquisition opportunities and long-term revenue streams. In Gentrack’s Highway of Innovation Catalogue we have taken a look at energy utilities from around the world – looking at not only Gentrack’s 60+ customers, but the entire energy supply industry.  In this we have found multiple different ways these utilities are capitalising on this growing EV market.  

Energy roaming – Genesis / New Zealand 

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: Page 45

A top concern for new EV buyers is charging away from home, and to address this challenge, retailers are connecting their customers with public charger infrastructure. One of the most advanced implementations of the away-from-home EV charging tariff is allowing consumers to roam with their energy tariff while away from their home.  

Genesis Energy’s EVerywhere plan, allows their customers to benefit from their home tariffs while charging their EV on a public 3^rd party  EV charger network. Charging away-from-home is often significantly more expensive than charging at home, resulting in substantial potential savings for consumers. Managing the billing of a ground-breaking tariffs like this requires a modern system, Genesis Energy uses Gentrack’s technology to help enable this.  

Charge network subscription bundling – Yello / Germany 

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: Page 49

Many retailers are taking a more standard approach to EV charging away from by offering public EV charging network subscriptions. These give consumers preferential prices at select public EV chargers, providing savings and peace of mind for their customers. 

Yello has EV charging tariffs that give the vehicle access to preferential prices via their parent brand EnBW’s charging network of over 500,000 chargers.  This synergy of leveraging existing connections with charging networks is one approach, while other providers are building new partnerships to bring these tariffs to market. 

Monetising enterprise EV charger installations – Yü Energy / UK

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: Page 46

While at-home charging is becoming simpler to install and manage, for businesses this experience is often not as seamless. Managing EVs and chargers can be an operational challenge – whether that is keeping your fleet charged or providing staff a place to charge their vehicles with ease.

Yü Energy, a Gentrack customer, have put special effort in supporting their business customer’s charging needs. They offer EV chargers that are tightly integrated into their systems. These can all be controlled via an app and appear itemised by chargepoint, with some even having the ability to be made public-facing and monetised by the enterprise. Yü Energy democratises energy monetisation, making any enterprise a potential “micro-energy” supplier. These examples highlight well the increasing complexity faced by traditional energy suppliers that need to re-invent themselves and innovate to respond to a quickly evolving demand. 

Overnight charging tariffs – EDF / UK 

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: Page 47

The vast majority of EV charging takes place at home, and this is the area retailers can provide the most value to their customers. Another relatively simple approach to the EV tariff is providing a fixed time when energy is provided at a discount rate. These tariffs can relay savings, along with greening the grid, by using cheaper off-peak energy. 

EDF UK’s GoElectric Overnight is offering a discount for charging an EV overnight during a set 5-hour block. Other providers are taking this approach a step further by providing multiple off-peak charging blocks with varying financial incentives. Such as Synergy in Australia EV Add-on, which has Peak, Off-Peak, Super Off-Peak and Overnight blocks that are priced at different rates. 

Pick your own charging slot – OVO / UK  

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: Page 48

A more complex approach offering greater flexibility to consumers is to allow them to choose their own charging slot.

OVO UK charge anytime offer provides a discount for scheduling EV charging. If you charge your EV outside of this chosen block, you are billed the normal electricity rate, and this special rate only applies to the EV.  

The offer records the charger’s usage and provides it as a bill credit after the fact. Often these deals require a compatible charger and smart meter to help differentiate the EV charging from household usage. This can also mean this approach is incompatible with some solar or battery systems. 

Smart charging – British Gas / UK  

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: available in the next update

While some consumers will appreciate the flexibility of the previous approach, many will prioritise bill savings above all else. British Gas Smart Charge is set to provide a tariff that dynamically chooses when an EV will charge.

Taking advantage of the cheapest energy on the grid, the plan gives financial incentives to keep your vehicle plugged in longer, with their systems choosing when to activate the charger. This level of supplier control requires specific smart chargers to be installed. 

EV + solar + battery charging – Amber Electric / Australia  

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: Page 15

The future of EV charging will require multiple technologies working in unison. Allowing for solar, home batteries, and the grid to power an EV in the most economical and sustainable way. 

Amber electric, a strategic partner to Gentrack, have a solution that makes the most of these technologies combined.

Their SmartShift™ technology along with a tariff that leverages cheap wholesale energy prices, automatically chooses when to charge the battery, use solar and top up the EV – all based on user preference. It is allowing consumers to sell energy back to the grid, and effectively charge their EVs for little to no cost in the right circumstances. 

V2G charging – Octopus / UK  

Highway of Innovation Catalogue: available in the next update

Another future-looking technology is Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) or Vehicle-to-Home (V2H). These both leverage the large size of EV batteries to power the home and help the grid during times of need.   

Octopus Energy is exploring this technology with their Power Pack Offer, which schedules your V2G charging and exporting.

They offer significant savings and the possibility for “free” EV charging. As it is early technology there are significant limitations, such as requiring a specific charger, a compatible EV, and a requirement to be plugged in 12-hours a day allowing the EV battery to be discharged to at least 30%. Octopus have an EV car leasing arm of their business that will offer the compatible hardware for customers that would like to adopt this offer.   

Conclusion 

Rapid innovation will be the key to success in this evolving market, and retailers unable to keep up with the pace of change will miss these opportunities. Modern adaptable billing and CRM systems, taking advantage of product-to-profit solutions are the way market leading retailers are innovating. If you would like to learn more about new offers being brought to market around the world, sign up for our Highway of Innovation Catalogue.