Itron launches EV charging optimisation technology

February 4, 2022 Editor

ev charging itron — Image credit: 123rf.com

Itron has launched its Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Optimiser solution, which enables EV charging assets to work in harmony with the grid.

Available globally, the first-of-its-kind solution is charger and vehicle agnostic, cloud-based, and integrates EV charging management and grid management systems to provide comprehensive EV charging and energy management for utilities and EV charging operators.

Itron’s initial focus for the solution will be on the fleet segment to address potential locational capacity constraints and the need for charging operators to optimise their energy consumption.

The solution can save end customers more than 35% on their energy costs through managed charging and can save utilities more than 20% annualiSed considering grid infrastructure investments and ongoing management. Early deployments for Itron’s EV charging solutions include two leading domestic and international utilities.

EV Charging OptimiSer is a part of Itron’s Optimiser portfolio, which also includes DER Optimiser, Grid Edge Optimiser and associated professional services.

The EV Charging Optimiser is a real-time, digital twin-based platform that was built from the ground up and provides EV charging operators and energy suppliers with a technology-driven solution to simplify planning, build and operations of EV charging and grid infrastructure.

The integrated solution helps reduce costs for project stakeholders by optimising EV-grid integration for utilities, managing charging schedules and the energy bill for EV charging operators and ensuring reliability and resiliency for both.

With Itron’s EV Charging Optimiser, EV fleet owners can plan, operate and manage their EV fleets at the highest performance level and lowest costs while also integrating charging assets with other distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar and storage. At the same time, the solution can manage constraints at the grid edge for the utility through grid analytics and control and enables chargers to be grid-integrated assets that facilitate outcomes like vehicle to grid (V2G) and other grid resiliency functions.

Itron enables utility EV programme managers and transportation electrification managers to set up, deploy, monitor and manage end-to-end EV charging programs, including customer consulting and advisory, enrollment, deployment and ongoing management. Utility charging-as-a-service (CaaS) programs or make-ready programs are both supported. As a hardware-, network- and vehicle-agnostic software solution, EV Charging Optimizer enables utility and customer choice and minimises complexity.

“In order for the electrification of transportation to accelerate, the barriers for EV charging deployment need to be removed. As the new vehicle fuel, energy and power must be managed within an ecosystem of DERs to fully realize the economic benefits of electrification. Grid integration needs to be intelligently planned to ensure stakeholder needs are met for all parties. With EV Charging Optimizer, utilities and EV charging operators have access to comprehensive EV charging, energy management and turnkey solutions to help maintain grid reliability, resiliency and efficiency. This will allow utilities to optimize their grid investments in EV charging enablement and end customers to better manage their energy fuel costs,” said Don Reeves, senior vice president of Outcomes at Itron.

“With global EV adoption expected to increase 25% annually to 2030, capacity constraints from concentrated EV charging depots are inevitable. Utilities and charging operators need planning, managed charging and optimization tools to improve grid integration and minimize energy costs. Software platforms focused on minimizing total cost of ownership provide piece of mind for stakeholders,” said Scott Shepard, principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.

As part of the end-to-end solution offering, Itron is collaborating with best-in-class technology partners, integrating its EV smart charging management, DER management, grid analytics and optimization SaaS platform with the following partner offerings:

Amazon Web Services – Secure, reliable and scalable cloud computing services
Geotab – Providing cloud-based analytics to help businesses and governments optimize their fleets, including state-of-charge monitoring, GPS monitoring along with battery and vehicle performance analytics
The Mobility House – Charging management system ChargePilot to efficiently and locally operate charging infrastructure for EV fleets
Microgrid Labs – EVOPT software platform providing system level planning, fleet charging infrastructure digital twin, optimized charge management including DER integration and real-time visibility into fleet operations
Meteomatics AG – Fast and easy access to the world’s most accurate weather, ocean, environment and climate data for every location on earth
Heliox – Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) for EV fleets

The EV Charging Optimizer solution is available now. For more details, visit the product page on itron.com, read the blog or see the solution details below. To learn more, media and industry analysts are also invited to join an Itron press conference on Feb. 2, 2022, at 8 a.m. PST. Register here.

Solution Details

As a device, network and software technology provider with expertise operating at the grid edge, Itron identified a gap in the market between existing EV charging and utility technology solutions. Itron’s EV Charging General Manager Mark Braby provides more context: “Our guiding principles were to take advantage of Itron’s strengths in energy measurement and ingesting real-time data at the grid edge, develop purpose-built software applications and then determine how we could use this to develop a software solution to accelerate EV charging deployments. We knew the platform had to scale to millions of endpoints, and to manage energy for commercial customers and grid operators it needed to be utility-grade, secure and resilient, so we spent the time to get the technology right.”

The same DNA and engineering leadership that led to Itron managing more than 75 million endpoints across AMI, distribution automation and smart city applications combined with a leading position in energy and load forecasting is being utilized to manage EV charging and DER assets at scale. Braby elaborates that “we believe we have created a game-changing platform that can operate at the scale that EV charging and DERs demand over the next several decades.”

The following provides more details on the solution, including what components Itron will bring to market alongside its partner ecosystem.

Itron EV Charging Optimizer

EVSE, network and vehicle-agnostic charging management software application
Digital twin that provides real-time visibility and analytics
Algorithms that provide multi-variant and multi-stakeholder optimization and control
Open API applications that offer rich integrations with third parties
AI and ML catalogs for forecasting accuracy and continuous algorithm improvement
Scalability to millions of endpoints
Utility-grade security
Hybrid cloud options and local hardware for resiliency and flexibility with deployments

Partner Technology Support

Grid planning, including power flow modelling
Vehicle planning, including databases of EVs and battery characteristics
Vehicle telematics
Local load optimization with charger hardware & backend-agnostic system
Solar, battery storage and other DER components
Data points for charging management algorithm improvement, including weather, route planning, traffic

Professional Services Support