Moixa and Alfen demonstrate how AI could revolutionise home EV charging
Moixa, the developer of smart software for domestic battery and electric vehicle (EV) charging, and Alfen, the specialist in energy solutions for the future, today launch a new EV charging partnership. The companies will use GridShare, Moixa’s AI powered software, to enable EV drivers to deliver essential flexibility to the UK energy system while reducing home energy bills.
Moixa has integrated its Moixa Hub with Alfen’s EV chargers, allowing Moixa’s GridShare artificial intelligence software to create personalised smart charging plans based on household energy consumption patterns, locally-produced solar PV energy and optimisation for time of use tariffs.
The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the impact of smart charging on EV owners’ energy bills and carbon emissions. The intent is to also use the chargers for grid services by ramping up and down charging speeds.
“Adding Moixa’s intelligent home energy management to Alfen’s smart chargers is providing customers with a real cost incentive and enabling them to leapfrog the competition,” said Simon Daniel, CEO of Moixa. “Smart charging will be essential for supporting the acceleration of EVs onto the UK market. Up to a fifth of new cars will be EVs by 2026 and up to 36 million ‘batteries on wheels’ are forecast to be on UK roads by 2040. Smart charging solutions like our collaboration with Alfen will help drive this rapid growth and ensure our power networks don’t become overloaded.”
The initial phase of the project will see 7.4kW Alfen Eve Single Pro-line chargers integrated with Moixa’s GridShare AI software rolled out across a limited number of UK homes. GridShare enables real-time aggregation and smart charging of EV batteries by optimising charging patterns based on factors such as driver behaviour, cost of energy and weather forecasts.
Alex Earl, Alfen’s UK Country Manager, says: “This solution fits perfectly with our overall mission to provide smart energy solutions and enable EV drivers to be even more sustainable by charging at the cleanest and most cost-effective times. This technology could have huge implications if applied to all our customers – it will drive individual cost-savings and ultimately turbo-charge the growth of EVs.”
Participants will each receive the AI-enabled charging technology free of charge. Upon successful completion of the initial trial, Moixa and Alfen will roll the offer out commercially. The partners are now signing up suitable participants to take part in the trial.
The installations will be carried out by Stratford Energy Solutions, the solar PV, energy storage, EV charging and electrical contractors. Alfen collaborated with the company on Western Power Distribution’s Electric Nation project, the world's largest EV domestic smart charging trial, in 2017 and 2018. This launch marks the development and growth of this partnership, by enhancing it with Moixa’s AI capabilities.
Prominent global partnerships
Alfen chose Moixa due to its market-leading software for managing home solar and storage, and its global partnerships with Honda, Hitachi and Fortune 500 company ITOCHU. Moixa’s GridShare platform already hosts the world’s largest single fleet of domestic batteries across more than 14,500 homes in Japan, which is growing by more than 1,000 a month.
Moixa has a deep history of enabling domestic storage assets to participate in flexibility markets. Most recently, Moixa contracted with Western Power Distribution and UK Power Networks to deliver services from behind-the-meter in consumer homes in constraint areas, subsequently generating additional income for its customers. By balancing the grid and supporting the alleviation of network constraints at the grid-edge, Moixa and Alfen are developing a solution to future-proof homes.