Uplight, the technology partner of energy providers transitioning to the clean energy ecosystem, today announced the launch of its Electric Vehicle (EV) Solution Suite, the only comprehensive, end-to-end set of software solutions for utilities to drive customer adoption and grid-friendly charging solutions for electric utility customers. Uplight’s configurable solution set will help utilities engage and activate their customers, manage related customer rate programs and orchestrate the related load increases in a seamless and affordable way.

According to research from the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and Guidehouse, there will be more than 20 million EVs on the road in 2030, up significantly from 1.6 million in 2021, and they will account for an annual energy consumption of 93 terawatt-hours (TWh) in the U.S. With a vision toward this electrified future, Uplight developed the EV Solution Suite so that in the face of this increased demand, utilities can prepare both the grid and their customers for what’s to come.

“Nothing will impact grid demand and resiliency in the near future more than EVs,” said Justin Segall, Chief Strategy Officer of Uplight. “By acting comprehensively today, utilities can better enable the coming EV boom by helping customers become an asset to the grid, reduce carbon and save money. With our innovative EV Solution Suite, we have the tools to help utilities and their customers every step of the way.”

Research from Uplight found that only 36% of customers who purchase an EV are likely to contact their utility beforehand, requiring utilities to leverage new tools and channels to ensure customers are aware of their program offerings. To date, utilities have had to turn to point solutions to engage customers—resulting in a fragmented experience for both parties. Uplight’s EV Solution Suite is configurable and modular, making it easy and fast to implement the capabilities utilities need based on EV adoption in their territory.

Uplight’s EV solutions are live at several utilities including PSE&G New Jersey, where customers are able to participate in a Residential Off-Peak Credit and Demand Charge Rebate. Uplight’s EV Data Aggregation solution allows customers to share their EV charging data via Level 2 networked chargers, then on a monthly basis, customers can qualify for a bill credit for charging during off-peak hours. 

"EVs are quickly adding load onto our grid and we need to forecast the future impact as accurately as possible,” said Dawn Neville, Manager Electric Transportation at PSE&G. “With Uplight’s solution suite, not only are we able to make sharing charger data simple and seamless for our customers, we’re also able to evaluate customers’ charging behavior behind the meter, enabling us to provide EV-only off-peak credits and promote good charging behavior.”

AES Indiana, an AES Company providing energy to over 500,000 customers in Indiana, has seen a 15% increase in click-through rates by leveraging Uplight’s EV propensity model to determine which customers are likely in the market to purchase an EV. From the email engagement, customers are brought to an educational site, hosted by Uplight, where they can learn about the benefits of off-peak and time-of-use (TOU) EV charging and explore buying options. From there, customers can be taken to the AES Indiana Marketplace provided by Uplight, where they can purchase a rebated EV charger and be pre-enrolled into their EV demand response program. This program has seen a 60% conversion rate from charger purchase to program enrollment during its first year of operation.

Uplight’s EV Solution Suite is the only utility-grade offering available that has all the critical components for utilities to manage residential EV programs. Utilities can contract the full suite or implement select modules to meet utility EV program goals. Modules include:

• Marketplace: The industry’s leading white-label ecommerce site, now enabling EV charger sales and charger installation services, Uplight Marketplace applies point of purchase rebates to the sale of the charger; it also readies rebates for any required panel upgrades and pre-enrolls customers onto utilities’ EV TOU rates or managed charging programs. By applying rebates at point of purchase, Uplight has seen a 3.5x growth in EV charger sales compared to non-rebated chargers
• EV Detection through Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) analytics: Delivers information on historic usage, demand and cost data, peer comparisons and peak shift modeling, all of which helps EV program marketing become more targeted to drive higher adoption rates
• EV Propensity Modeling: Drives targeted marketing through advanced customer segmentation with the goal of increasing engagement with energy customers who are considering EV purchases or have a higher likelihood of participating in an EV program
• Managed Charging: Enables a variety of customer-centric program designs with both EV chargers and vehicle telematics, including simple off-peak incentive programs, EV TOU rate coaching and active device controls. Digital experiences are integrated with customer-facing EV and charger applications to meet customers where they are and to drive high engagement and customer satisfaction
• EV Charging and Vehicle Telematics Collection: Uplight’s device-agnostic platform ingests and standardizes data to turn EV charging behavior into actionable insights for utility programs and infrastructure 

Uplight is also the only vendor to offer seamless integration with Qmerit, a strategic partner for EV supply equipment installation services. This partnership leverages Qmerit’s extensive electrification service implementation capabilities, including a national network of skilled EV Charger installers, to make buying and installing a charger with utility rebates more affordable and seamless for the energy customer. 

To learn more about Uplight’s EV Solution Suite, please visit https://uplight.com/solutions/electric-vehicle-adoption-and-experience/.