The spotlight is firmly on the integration of electric vehicles into the power grid with the recent news that ChargeScape, a consortium of some of the biggest names in automotive manufacturing has appointed its first CEO and CTO.

Spearheaded by Alliance Board member, Ford Motor Company, along with BMW Manufacturing Co., Honda and Nissan Motor Corporation, the joint venture will focus on the integration of electric vehicles (EVs) into the power grid in the US.

Managed EV charging companies are helping to drive the growth of OpenADR adoption in the past three years. We are seeing this momentum continue in 2024, with a wave of companies joining the Alliance who are offering a different focus and innovative new business models to the growing EV marketplace.

One such member is OpenRoad Technologies Inc. who joined us on our recent webinar, New Frontiers in EV Charging. Here we find out a bit more about the company as we talk to Evan Kirchhoff, CEO and co-founder and a 20-year veteran of software and hardware technology companies, including Adobe, Razor, and Google.

The transition to electric vehicles (EV) is central to achieving net zero goals. For the UK market in particular, these goals are ambitious. The date to phase out the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars was recently pushed back to 2035, but with a newly appointed government in place since July the original 2030 deadline is set to be restored.

While no mention was made of this in the King’s Speech during the recent state opening of Parliament, which sets out the government’s legislative plans, we can expect to see more details published soon.

We are hearing mixed messages right now about the success – or otherwise – of electric vehicles (EVs). We know that EVs will happen one way or another, but on the one hand, we’re seeing headlines about falling sales and car makers slashing forecasts, while on the other, the news that sales have got off to a record start this year. The growth seeming to come from premium brands like BMW and Audi.

 We know it will come, but the transition to EVs is not without its challenges.

The OpenADR Alliance talks with Joachim Lohse, CEO and Founder of Ampcontrol, a leading AI-powered software company for electric fleets, about the important role the OpenADR standard has played in the company’s EV fleet software.