Volkswagen’s Charging Arm Offers Intelligent Green Electricity Use In Germany
Volkswagen Group has a charging business of its own, Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH, aka “Elli,” and the business is now offering Volkswagen EV drivers more options for how they get their electricity. In Germany, the EV owners can already get 100% of their electricity from green energy sources.
Specifically, Volkswagen has partnered with ev.energy and is offering customers the “Volkswagen Naturstrom Connect” electricity tariff.
Rather than just offering fixed times when charging is cheaper or supposed to be greener, the intelligent charging tariff pays attention to exactly what is going into the grid. “The Volkswagen Naturstrom Connect tariff has been developed by directly integrating the energy tariff with electric vehicle charging usage, controlled through the Naturstrom Connect app. The customer allows their electric vehicle charging to dynamically respond to the carbon intensity on the grid,” Elli writes.
Not only that, but EV owners get points for doing this! For every smart charge greater than 7kWh, the owner gets one point. With 10 points, they then get a 5€ bill credit, with the ability to save up to 100€ per year.
Everything is integrated through the Volkswagen ID. As far as the partner, “Elli selected ev.energy to deliver this proposition over a multi-year contract after working with them during the Volkswagen Future Mobility Incubator.”
“It’s great to see ev.energy come through the program and get commercial traction to the Elli team so quickly. This is a great testament to Volkswagen’s approach of bringing great start-ups through our programs, and launching the best ideas in the market,” Johannes Rönsberg, Coordinator Volkswagen Future Mobility Incubator, said.
“This is a major milestone not only for us and for Volkswagen, but more importantly for EV drivers, by integrating smart charging into home charging and energy services,” Nick Woolley, Co-founder and CEO of ev.energy, said. “I’m excited to be scaling a first of a kind tariff in Volkswagen’s home country, and beyond. It’s been fantastic working so closely with the Elli and wider Volkswagen Group Charging team to develop a solution that is greener, cheaper and simpler for EV drivers.”
This is an uplifting development in the EV charging ecosystem, and I’m excited to see how much and how quickly it grows. I’m not sure if it’s something Elli will ever extend to the United States, but I expect it could expand across European markets, and perhaps it will indeed be a possibility in various utility jurisdictions in time.
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