Virtual power plant (VPP) platform profile
ev.energy: managed EV charging for utilities
How ev.energy runs managed EV charging programs for utilities, what drivers earn, and how its estimates of utility value compare.
VPP Economics has no affiliation with, sponsorship from, or endorsement by any utility, aggregator, platform, or device maker named here.
The short answer
- ev.energy runs managed EV charging programs for utilities. Its software connects to cars and chargers, shifts charging off-peak, verifies the result and pays drivers on the utility’s behalf. It reports more than 55 utility programs in North America and Europe (ev.energy).
- Its largest U.S. program is SmartCharge New York. Run for Con Edison and Orange & Rockland, it has more than 27,000 EVs (ev.energy); ev.energy says the average driver earns $400 a year (ev.energy).
- The utility value can exceed driver pay. ev.energy estimates actively managed charging avoids $145–$575 per EV per year in utility costs (ev.energy).
- It is moving from load shifting to virtual power plant (VPP) dispatch. In California, MCE’s managed charging program now feeds a VPP that informs wholesale market bids (ev.energy).
Where ev.energy fits
Highlighted boxes are the roles this company plays; the green bar shows where its programs sit from demand response to an orchestrated VPP.
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How ev.energy programs work
ev.energy connects through vehicle telematics or charger clouds, so drivers do not need new hardware. SmartCharge New York pays drivers up to 10 cents per kWh for charging between midnight and 8 a.m. and up to $175 each summer for avoiding 2–6 p.m. (ev.energy). It is open to charger brands covering over 90% of the local market (ev.energy).
The company reports orchestrating 9.3 million charging sessions and 220,000 MWh of energy, shifting 24% of average load (ev.energy).
Driver pay versus utility value
Dollars per EV per year. Green bars are payments to drivers; gray bars are ev.energy’s estimates of utility costs avoided
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From load shifting to grid flexibility
At MCE, a California community choice aggregator, participants cut grid load in the 4–9 p.m. peak by an average of 89.6%, and 96% of their charging happens off-peak (ev.energy). MCE has now connected the program to its VPP through the OpenADR 3.1 standard, so EVs inform wholesale market bids; active dispatch of enrolled EVs is the next step (ev.energy).
With Ameren Missouri, ev.energy kept EV charging on one 12 kV feeder in St. Louis within the feeder’s 4.5 MW limit using signals from Ameren’s DERMS (ev.energy). That local, distribution-level use is where managed charging can defer upgrades.
Scale-up plans
The California Energy Commission-funded ChargeWise project with MCE and Silicon Valley Clean Energy aims for a 300 MW EV VPP and 275,000 drivers by 2027 (ev.energy). The U.S. Department of Energy selected ev.energy to lead a $12 million managed charging project with utilities in California, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Alaska (ev.energy). In 2026 it added a partnership with Sense to find EVs and other devices through smart meters (ev.energy).
What it means for program design
Value is mostly local and deferred
Much of the avoided cost is distribution and generation capacity that is not built, so savings show up over years.
Driver pay is a fraction of value
Paying $72–$400 a year against $145–$575 of avoided cost leaves room to share more with drivers or the rate base.
Telematics lowers enrollment cost
Connecting through the car or charger cloud avoids hardware visits, which matters when each EV is worth a few hundred dollars a year.
Method and caveats
Figures are company-reported, checked October 16, 2026. The $72 MCE figure annualizes a $6 monthly average from a 2021–2022 pilot. Avoided-cost estimates come from ev.energy’s own analysis with The Brattle Group and are modeled, not measured.