Energy software firm Kaluza has partnered with Wallbox to pilot electric vehicle (EV) vehicle-to-everything (V2X) charging technology.
The project, currently in phase one, aims to help Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) customers in California using dynamic tariffs.
Funded by a £1.1 million investment from the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Responsive, Easy Charging Products with Dynamic Signals (REDWDS) grant, the partners will leverage Kaluza’s proven software to deploy managed charging solutions that make EVs more accessible for customers.
A number of the assets will be connected to Wallbox’s bidirectional charger, Quasar 2, enabling users to both charge their EVs and export power back to their homes or offer emergency backup power when the grid is down.
The programme will comprise 330 vehicles, with a commitment to deploy at least 50% of these assets in low-income communities. The project’s partners will also collaborate to lower the upfront costs of switching to an EV for low-income customers and showcase the efficiency of managed charging programmes.
If the project is successful, additional CEC funding of up to $4 million will be made available through a second phase to continue deploying managed charging and bidirectional solutions in California.
Through its recently launched V2X pilot programme, which is separate from and in addition to the CEC REDWDS project, PG&E offers its customers financial incentives to integrate and test new bidirectional EV charging technologies in a variety of settings, including homes, businesses and local PG&E microgrids in select high wildfire-risk areas.
Phase one of the three-year pilot kicks off this year, with customer enrolment expected at the end of 2024. The programme operation and data collection will extend through September 2026.
Jonathan Levy, US managing director at Kaluza, said: “With California rapidly approaching 2 million cumulative EV sales, managed charging with software solutions like Kaluza means everyone’s a winner – including EV drivers, utilities like PG&E, the grid and the planet.”
Californian EV landscape
It is important to note that Kaluza has spent five years managing charging experience across global markets, including the UK, the US, Spain and Australia.
In the UK, for example, the Kaluza-powered ‘OVO Charge Anytime’ EV charging plan enabled customers to charge at an ultra-low rate of 7p/kWh at any time of day or night, resulting in a whole year’s worth of driving for £190.
Since the tariff’s launch in March 2023, Charge Anytime customers have saved over £5.5 million.
Moreover, UK EV smart charging platform ev.energy secured £32 million in funding from the CEC’s same REDWDS grant to expand charging solutions in California earlier this month.
The firm will use the funds to enrol EV drivers into smart charging programmes, fostering the development of a dynamic EV virtual power plant (VPP).
