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Managed EV charging could generate $30B in annual savings by 2035: report

Carefully managing electric vehicle demand could cut all U.S. electric bills by 10% annually, regardless of whether a customer owns an EV, according to new research from Brattle and ev.energy.

Dive Brief:

• Managed charging programs can turn flexible electric vehicle loads into a grid resource capable of generating $30 billion in annual utility savings, according to research from ev.energy, a managed charging provider in the United States, and The Brattle Group.
• Each actively managed vehicle can create up to $575 in avoided costs for utilities, leading to a 10% reduction in all customer electric bills by 2035 — whether they own an EV or not, according to the report. Programs that include a vehicle-to-grid bidirectional charging component could more than double the benefits.
• While bidirectional programs are still grappling with technical and policy challenges, managed charging is ready for full deployment, ev.energy CEO Nick Woolley said in an interview. “From a regulatory perspective, we don’t need to do more pilots. We need to scale these programs,” he said.

Dive Insight:

Demand from growing EV adoption is beginning to show up on the electric grid, creating simultaneous opportunities and hurdles for utilities, Woolley said.

Absent a proactive approach to managing the demand, power companies will face premature transformer failures, require emergency system upgrades and see customer bills rise higher, according to the report. With managed charging, they can create a more decentralized, optimized and affordable grid.

“The biggest source of demand growth is going to be electric vehicles on the energy system in the 2030s, and that really means, from a utility perspective, that if they don’t control and manage that resource, they could end up building lots of expensive additional generation to meet the demand,” Woolley said.

Last year, an NREL report looking out to 2050 noted that “EVs are expected to be the largest source of electricity demand growth, and will require investments in generation, transmission, and distribution systems.” It also said that smart integration of EVs “can strengthen the grid by providing flexibility that reduces electricity costs and increases resiliency.”