The Albany Gazette - BluWave-ai Launches Clean Charge Challenge for EV Drivers

BluWave-ai is introducing its first Clean Charge Challenge for users of its electric vehicle (EV) smart charging mobile app during January, 2025. Qualifying users will be entered in a series of draws at the end of the month with a total of $5,000 CAD in prizes will be awarded. The contest is open to residents of Ontario and Prince Edward Island (PEI).

EV drivers who use the app are able to earn points for charging using cleaner energy and at times that are beneficial for the electricity grid. Users in the top 25% will be entered in draws to win prizes. The contest is timed to coincide with the broader launch of the BluWave-ai app across Canadian provinces. The contest is part of a broader app launch, as covered last month on evinfo.net, that marks a significant step forward in delivering services to the Canadian market, building on BluWave-ai's ongoing deployment with Hydro Ottawa since 2022.

The increasing electrification of residential devices places a strain on the electricity grid, particularly with the rise of electric vehicles (EVs). EVs can be either a challenge or an asset to grid operators depending on whether charging loads are coordinated intelligently. Upgrading the grid to support electrification demand is expected to result in multi-billion-dollar costs for ratepayers in the coming decade, which can be offset by using software solutions to harness private EVs in support of the grid.

There are optimal times and less ideal times to charge, and while existing time-of-use rate structures begin to address this issue in some regions, they come with significant limitations. The approach from BluWave-ai elevates this to the next level by enabling smarter charging based on real-time grid integration and prediction of generation and demand, and by creating a new channel of communication between system operators and privately owned EVs. This approach allows drivers to contribute valuable services to the grid and win rewards through channels such as the current challenge while maintaining full control over their vehicles. With its advanced smart charging feature set, BluWave-ai automates the use of the cleanest available energy sources and the lowest-cost electricity rates, offering drivers peace of mind. Drivers can always override intelligent charging control or opt out of utility-driven events from the app, leaving them in control of their vehicle.

For utilities, a pool of connected and coordinated EVs charging within their territory presents a new type of grid balancing resource. BluWave-ai's solution offers the ability to interact with and incentivize drivers who opt-in for making their EV available as a grid asset. For example, a pool of connected EVs can participate in energy markets to provide services such as demand response (where electricity use is reduced by a predetermined amount for a set period of time) and drivers can receive rewards and incentives in exchange for allowing their EV to participate. Previously, participation in energy markets has been reserved for large consumers such as industrial sites. A city that has 10,000 EVs connected to the platform can benefit from upwards of 10 MW of curtailment capacity, which is enough to power an international airport terminal or 2,000 homes. Importantly, this capacity is available today, with many large North American cities having upwards of 10,000 EVs on their streets already (for example Florida has 255,000 EVs at time of writing).

The EV Everywhere platform from BluWave-ai enables its app users to connect their home energy assets to electrical utilities and system operators. This has a democratizing effect on the energy market, and opens up untapped potential for utilities to use private equipment that they otherwise would not have access to using. From the driver's perspective these events are minimally disruptive, typically involving pausing or shifting their charging automatically for a couple of hours during electricity peak periods.

"EV drivers are already making a conscientious decision for society and the environment by purchasing an EV in the first place. At the same time, each EV onboards 50-80 kWh of battery storage onto the grid," said Devashish Paul, CEO and founder of BluWave-ai. "Every ten thousand EVs added to the grid represents 600 MWh of storage available to offtake renewables like wind and solar at the right times. BluWave-ai is organizing citizen EV users so that the grid can benefit from this massive storage resource. The province of Ontario has plans to onboard 10 GWh of utility-scale batteries in the coming decade, and this could be matched by as little as 250,000 EVs organized by BluWave-ai."

EV Everywhere solves the issue of how to efficiently get privately owned energy assets involved in non-wires solutions: software-based approaches which allow utilities to downsize or defer upgrades to their grid infrastructure critical for the electricity grid of the future. The EV Everywhere solution gives utilities up-front visibility into what to expect from EV adoption in their territory, to inform infrastructure planning decisions that will determine how the grid operates for years to come. It also opens up the opportunity to run pilots quickly and efficiently to understand the particulars of using EVs for grid balancing in a given region.

"This expansion of our platform represents a really exciting opportunity for EV drivers across North America," said Chris Galbraith, Senior Product Manager at BluWave-ai. "Our approach makes it easy for drivers to sign up and start automatically using cleaner energy to charge their vehicle in ways that are better for the grid, as well as receiving rewards for the service they're providing."

Much of the industry conversation around management of private EVs centers on upcoming technologies like vehicle-to-grid (V2G) in which an EV battery can be used to send power back into the electricity grid when requested. While this technology will form a critical piece of future electrified smart grids, it is still an uncommon feature among currently-available EVs. BluWave-ai's predictive charging optimization allows for similar capabilities to be realized using coordinated unidirectional charging of groups of EVs, with technology that's broadly available to drivers today. Managing the EVs as a coordinated pool rather than as individual batteries enables the solution to emulate V2G by putting energy in EVs exactly when it's needed (instead of charging and discharging their batteries in reaction to what's happening elsewhere on the grid). The pool of coordinated EVs can be operated to provide a much of the net positive effect to the grid without waiting on V2G to become more widespread.

The broader launch and promotion of the BluWave-ai driver app, The BluWave-ai app, available for iOS and Android, offers simple onboarding. Drivers can:

• download the app from the Apple app store or Google Play Store

• link their EV remotely from within the app

• enable intelligent charging to earn points for using energy at times that are better for the grid and the planet

During the Clean Charge Challenge in January, drivers who rank in the top 25% will be entered into a draw for prizes. No purchase is necessary to participate in the contest; visit ev-everywhere.ca/contest for details and official rules.

Contact Information

Brandon Paul
Senior Corporate Marketing Manager
[email protected]

SOURCE: BluWave-ai

(S.Perez--TAG)