Opening EV Flexibility to Everyone

Nick Woolley, CEO & Co-Founder of ev.energy, shares how energy companies, manufacturers, and software providers can collaborate to maximize value from EV charging flexibility.

Electric vehicles are a massive source of flexibility for the energy system. A typical EV consumes the same amount of energy as a typical household, doubling the strain on most grids. Harnessing this energy as a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), unlocks capacity across our grids, and releases more cheap, green energy into our cars and homes. 

Unlocking flexibility from every EV is hard. The energy flexibility ecosystem is emerging, and in any new market, there is a lot of uncertainty, misinformation, and complexity to navigate. 

One of the biggest challenges right now is the intricate world of device connectivity. Energy companies need connectivity to unlock flexibility and serve their customers. Universal access is critical to ensure that no driver, or business, is left behind. It's on all of us to get this right for people, businesses, and the planet.

What’s required is full and ubiquitous connectivity to all car brands, charging infrastructure, and the other hardware often installed alongside an EV.  Residents and businesses tend to own a mix of assets, often from multiple manufacturers, which must be interoperable. Connectivity must also be retained as drivers move around the network, or drop into a neighboring power system. The assets themselves have a wide variety of capabilities - some are simply not connected to the Internet, while others offer advanced control. It’s reasonable that in an uncertain market, the device manufacturers lack confidence: we talk to all the leading car and charger companies who are unsure how the market will play out.

So, how can we navigate this complexity, and enable access to 100% of EV drivers?

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Lessons from Fintech’s Boom

As the energy and transportation industries converge, the need for collaboration and innovative thinking has never been greater. While change can be daunting, history shows us that industries facing rapid transformation can find scalable, secure, and consumer-friendly solutions.

Take fintech, for example.

Online banking initially relied on third-party services using user-provided login credentials to access financial data. Plaid played a crucial role in this transition by standardizing secure connectivity between fintechs and banks. As demand for structured data grew, banks began offering authorized APIs, shifting from fragmented access methods to a more standardized, permissioned data-sharing model.

The evolution of managed EV charging programs is on a similar trajectory. Today, ev.energy ensures broad compatibility across automakers by leveraging multiple connectivity methods. As OEMs recognize the value of standardized integrations, the industry will naturally transition toward APIs, ensuring seamless, secure, and efficient participation in utility programs. Like banks, OEMs will open up their APIs to maximize value for their customers, and ev.energy stands ready to support them in this journey.

The Future of Energy and Transportation Electrification

The ultimate goal is clear: a common standard that enables utilities, OEMs, and software providers to work together efficiently and cost-effectively.

At ev.energy, we fundamentally believe that vehicle data belongs to the driver, and OEMs should not be gatekeepers. The European Union’s Data Act already mandates that OEMs allow users to share their data freely with third parties. Similar regulations in the U.S. will likely accelerate API access, paving the way for a more open and equitable managed charging ecosystem.

But this transition won’t happen overnight. Fintech took a decade to shift to standardized APIs. While Tesla has led the way with its Fleet API and other OEMs are making investments, we need to take a pragmatic approach—building broad access and standardization step by step to create value and equity now and set up for long-term success.

Three core pillars will guide us: Equity, Trust, and Scale.

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Navigating the Path to Seamless, Ubiquitous Vehicle-Grid Integration

Equity

Our goal is to unlock flexibility for 100% of EV drivers. Smart charging should benefit all EV drivers and fleets — not just those with certain vehicles, charging at certain locations. Equity is both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity to achieve the scale required for meaningful grid impact.

Be Pragmatic vs. Dogmatic

While some OEMs, some charging networks, and most chargers enable supported partner data sharing, the majority of car OEMs are still developing or considering how to share these capabilities with other businesses. But we believe these constraints shouldn’t exclude drivers from participation. The market is emerging, and we need to deliver value today using the capabilities available - for example by automating access to the customer’s data, or leveraging behavioral “passive” approaches when active control is not available.

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We do not believe in dogmatically lecturing the industry on how it should be done, or limiting programs to just a few vehicle makes and models. ev.energy’s approach is pragmatic, integrating using the tools in front of us, and continually refining our capabilities when better tools become available. By combining hardware compatibility with our deep program design and customer experience expertise, energy companies can robustly serve 100% of EV owners today. This approach allows for continuous improvement as the resident or fleet manager upgrades devices and technology advances over time. 

Why wait to get to 100% coverage when you can do it now?

Trust

Trust is the foundation of managed charging—both for drivers and for industry players working together to deliver these programs.

Avoid Single Points of Failure

Dependability is key. Data access must be reliable, accurate, and resilient. ev.energy has intentionally built integrations and partnerships across auto OEMs, EVSE manufacturers, aggregators, and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to ensure uninterrupted connectivity. If one source fails, others automatically ensure program continuity. This enables energy companies to cover 100% of EV drivers, and the majority with multiple levels of redundancy.

Deliver Superior Outcomes with Data 

OEMs, chargers, and other devices vary widely in how they capture and share data. At the core of our platform is an engine that automatically cleans and interprets data from multiple intermittent sources, building the best estimate for the charging session. We understand how to design programs robustly to overcome data challenges, while delivering valuable outcomes, like reducing peak load. All of our data is standardized and transparent, ensuring that managed charging programs function effectively, and can be reviewed at every level.

Prioritize Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity must be a priority. However, direct OEM integrations are not inherently more secure. The real concern is whether utilities and aggregators uphold strict security standards, including SOC 2, ISO, and GDPR compliance. ev.energy adheres to these standards, ensuring robust data security across all integrations. We can also deploy our solutions alongside other applications, as needed by our customers. We understand that one day all VPPs will be critical national infrastructure, and we are ready and willing to meet the highest security standards.

Enshrine Data Privacy by Design

The driver owns their charging data - not the utility, the device manufacturer, or a software company like ev.energy. As we advance charging programs, we have to place the driver at the center of the ecosystem. Programs should be designed to minimize the level of access and sharing of user data, and always inform the driver why certain data is required. This builds trust, which is further reinforced by providing the benefits of smart charging back to the driver directly.

Scale

Managed charging’s true value emerges at scale. With EV adoption set to surge, we must prepare now to ensure grid stability and cost-effectiveness.

Use Interoperability, and Diversity to Drive Cost-Effective Scaling

The economics of managed charging are often misunderstood. Estimates show that the value of EV flexibility for utilities ranges from $40 to $2,800 per EV per year. However, the benefits are not usually immediately accessible and vary wildly across energy companies and locations. 

If device manufacturers demand value that hasn't been created yet, they risk getting nothing. In nascent markets, the right approach is to encourage open access and innovation, and let the market flourish, rather than setting unrealistic financial expectations that close the market before it has started. Tesla did this successfully by enabling their fleet API to be freely accessible, to get the market started.

To maximize participation, ev.energy takes a technology-agnostic approach—integrating with auto OEMs, EVSEs, AMI systems, and aggregators. This allows utilities to reach 100% of EV drivers without relying on fragmented expensive single-vendor relationships, where the costs can be uneconomic. 

For utilities, evaluating all integration options—rather than being locked into a single OEM-led approach—is crucial for optimizing program cost and flexibility.

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What Can Energy Companies and OEMs Do Next?

For Energy Companies

Maximizing managed charging’s value means designing programs that balance broad access with data realities. ev.energy acts as the Mastercard of smart charging, integrating seamlessly across the industry so utilities can operate their programs efficiently.

Avangrid’s groundbreaking tiered program design provides an example:

• The behavioral tier encourages grid-friendly charging behaviors for all drivers
• The advanced tier optimizes charging for drivers with active charging capabilities

In addition, energy companies can leverage OEMs and device partners, to help originate drivers onto their programs. By marketing how every EV can benefit from being in your program, OEMs will want to market energy services to their drivers, and the utility will boost enrollment. A true win-win!

For OEMs

ev.energy is open for business. We recognize that different automakers and EVSE brands have different technical and business priorities. From integrating partner APIs to opening up our E-Mobility API, or something more bespoke, our approach is pragmatic—working within current capabilities while building a roadmap toward full standardization. 

Every OEM can unlock additional value for their customers by providing them the ability to get paid while charging. Through ev.energy’s global network of utilities, we can enable every driver to make savings and earn money, everywhere they charge, in any EV. Our APIs are freely available today, and we encourage every OEM to pull the benefits into your cars, apps, and tools today - let’s make the experience delightful for EV drivers, together!

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Let’s Work Together

The EV opportunity is here, and managed charging is key to making it successful—for drivers, utilities, and OEMs alike.

At ev.energy, we’re proud to have a dedicated Hardware Connectivity team focused on delivering reliable hardware connections, from scoping and implementation to data processing and quality assurance. 

We’re ready to collaborate. Reach out to our team to explore how we can work together to scale managed EV charging for a cleaner, more resilient grid.