Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Mitsubishi Motors), MC Retail Energy Co., Ltd. (MC Retail Energy), Kaluza Ltd. (Kaluza*) ,and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) are pleased to announce the launch of a proof of concept (PoC) in electric-vehicle (EV) smart charging. This PoC will seek to verify the commercial viability of what would be Japan’s first smart-charging service leveraging EV connected technologies. The data collected during the PoC period shall be applied towards the future development of such a service, the objectives of which are to lower society-wide energy costs and create a more appealing charging environment for EV users.
*Kaluza is a subsidiary of the UK-based innovative energy service provider OVO Group, in which MC acquired a 20% interest in 2019.
■ PoC Summary
This PoC will provide Mitsubishi Motors’ all-new Outlander (PHEV model) users1 with a service that allows them to use a smartphone app to set the times they want their vehicles charged. The app-based service will connect the users’ home charging stations to Kaluza’s EV charging-control platform, which automatically optimises charging by ensuring it takes place both prior to the customers’ selected charge-by times and only during hours when energy-market and other prices are lowest. During the PoC period, customers will subscribe to a charging plan that has been specially developed by MC Retail Energy exclusively for this service. It will enable them to lower their charging costs in accordance with data collected by the control system. Furthermore, because this service will make it possible to directly control EV charging from Kaluza’s platform via Mitsubishi Motors’ connected systems, it does not require any communications-capable (i.e. “smart”) charging devices or other additional equipment.
Our Companies’ History of Related Initiatives
Mitsubishi Motors and Kaluza began collaborating on the development of smart-charging services in February 2023, since then they have made progress on a charging-control system that takes advantage of EV connected technologies.2
MC Retail Energy is a trailblazer in power-generation plans for EVs, having played a leading role in the EV dynamic-pricing demonstration project launched by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and partnering with companies in the automotive, energy and communications sectors to build up know-how in EV charging. The plans thus far undertaken by MC Retail Energy include one aimed at achieving zero-cost overnight charging, and another to encourage users to charge during the day instead of at night.3
Together with OVO Energy, Kaluza has been providing EV customers with a similar smart-charging service in the UK since March, 2023. Thus far, the service has helped those customers achieve a total electricity cost savings of more than 4.6 million pounds, and it has also reduced carbon emissions by an estimated 146 tons.
In 2022, MC, Kaluza and Chubu Electric Power Miraiz Co., Inc. performed an EV smart charging PoC as a means of identifying decarbonisation solutions in mobility. The objective of the PoC was to verify the usefulness and technological feasibility of EV smart charging in Japan.4 As an investor in Mitsubishi Motors, MC Retail Energy, and OVO/Kaluza in the United Kingdom, MC has provided support for these companies’ activities above.
1Eligible customers are, residents in the electricity supply area of TEPCO Power Grid, Inc. or Chubu Electric Power Grid Co., Inc., registered for MITSUBISHI CONNECT, a connected service provided by Mitsubishi Motors, and a normal EV charger must be installed at their homes.
2Press release issued by Mitsubishi Motors on February 22, 2023 (Japanese only):
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/jp/newsrelease/2023/detail5682.html
3Press release issued by MC Retail Energy on June 30, 2022 (Japanese only):
4Press release issued by MC on March 15, 2022:
“Mitsubishi Corporation, Kaluza, and Miraiz to Launch Initiative for Decarbonizing Mobility in Japan”
https://www.mitsubishicorp.com/jp/en/pr/archive/2022/html/0000048817.html
SOURCE: Mitsubishi
