Smart charging & climate—why do only a few talk about it?

Becoming an EV owner is often seen as a simple way to reduce your carbon footprint. But, the climate benefits of having an EV at home go far beyond driving emissions-free. How you charge your EV at home has a major influence on your home's energy efficiency and the electrical grid.

Even though the focus on EVs is growing, only some are aware of the environmental benefits of how we charge them at home. This article will dive into the climate benefits of using EV Smart charging.

What is Smart charging?

Smart charging involves more than plugging in your electric vehicle (EV) and waiting to charge. Instead of charging as soon as the EV is connected, smart charging tools use real-time data to determine the optimal times to charge.

Smart charging uses real-time electricity prices, published 24 hours in advance, and the EV owner's usage habits to create a charging plan. With this tool, charging will typically happen during less busy energy periods of the day and when renewable energy sources like solar or wind are more abundant.

Basic charging, in contrast, does not consider the best times to charge for your wallet and the planet and can often lead to higher electricity costs and the use of more fossil fuels. In the image below, you can see smart charging in practice. A typical Synergi user plugs in their EV around 20:00. However, smart charging starts four hours later when people are using less electricity.

Smart charging promotes clean energy use

On top of generating savings for users, smart charging plays a huge role in supporting efforts in the green transition, such as balancing the grid. Grid systems, which must balance supply and demand during busy energy periods, really need people to use electricity efficiently.

However, this is becoming harder because we need more electricity than ever, and renewable energy sources are unpredictable. For example, you can't count on the sun to shine or the wind to blow at the right time.

So, smart charging is crucial for automatically shifting charging to avoid jumps in electricity usage that typically occur during busy hours when most households are using energy. In other words, charging during less busy hours helps grid providers balance energy demand and supply.

Another important benefit of smart charging is matching with high renewable energy production periods. You directly reduce fossil fuel use by smart charging your EV when wind or solar power is most abundant. Without smart charging, EVs would frequently charge during busy hours, when the grid is more dependent on gas or coal-fired power plants to meet demand.

As EV adoption grows, smart charging becomes even more important. Without it, mass EV charging during busy hours could lead to energy wastage or blackouts. By improving how and when EVs charge, tools like smart charging can help grids remain stable.

Smart charging reduces carbon emissions

Owning an EV is a great step towards reducing your carbon footprint. Without smart charging, plugging in your car could unintentionally increase your use of fossil fuels. Smart charging, though, changes this equation!

By aligning your home EV charging with periods of lower demand, especially when there are more renewable energy sources, you can ensure that your vehicle runs on the cleanest energy available. This, of course, reduces your household's carbon footprint and also helps promote responsible energy usage - automatically!

For example, we conducted a small study amongst our users to understand how much less carbon emission there is in a smart charging session. We discovered that a 22.3 kWh smart charging session happens with 18% less carbon emissions than a non-smart one. You can read more smart charging findings from our Finland EV Smart Smart Charging & Optimization Report 2024.

Smart charging supports climate action

The future of clean mobility doesn't just depend on everyone getting an EV, but it's also about building smart software on top to help them operate better. As we mentioned, smart charging is one of the tools that can help enhance the environmental benefits of owning an EV; it promotes clean energy use and helps reduce charging emissions.

Companies like Synergi are making this easier by providing intelligent tools that help households optimize their energy use. With Synergi smart charging, EV owners don't have to think much about doing good - they plug in their EVs and are ready to go.