Rotterdam,
05
March
2015
|
09:00
Europe/Amsterdam

Eneco develops new app in response to increase in sustainable electricity

​Henk charges his Tesla when electricity price is low

Summary

IT entrepreneur Henk Kippersluis charges his Tesla when the electricity price is low. Henk is the first user of Eneco SmartCharging (SlimLaden), an app that not only controls the charge speed of the battery, but also keeps track of the current energy prices. This is the first time that a service like this is available in the Netherlands.

The increasing supply of wind and solar energy in the Netherlands results in more fluctuations in the electricity price. With the introduction of Eneco SmartCharging, Eneco offers customers the possibility to match their demand with the supply of sustainable electricity at the most favourable moment. This way, optimal use is made of available sustainable energy in the Netherlands, and drivers of a Tesla car automatically invest in sustainable energy. For example when there is a lot of wind energy in periods with strong wind or in the future, when the production of solar energy has increased.

The service is provided by means of an app that was especially developed for this purpose. The car owner indicates when the car needs to be charged and to what extent, and Eneco SmartCharging automatically selects the best time to charge the battery at the lowest price. The customer pays the market price that applies at the moment the car is charged (also referred to as the APX price). This market price is adapted every fifteen minutes on the basis of the developments in the purchase market. Consequently, the customer always pays the lowest price given the selected charging requirements. The first results show that Henk Kippersluis can save up to one euro each time his car is charged overnight.

Tesla is the first car brand for which this app is available, because it provides open systems for the development of apps by third parties. Furthermore, the Tesla Model S is the most mature, fully electric car that is available on the market at present. Eneco’s aim is to also make the service available to other brands of electric and plug-in cars, such as Volkswagen, BMW, Mitsubishi, Renault and Audi.