Transforming EVs & Charging Stations into Virtual Power Plants

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.


Or support our Kickstarter campaign!

Nearly a decade ago, I gave a presentation at EVBox’s rEVolution conference in Amsterdam. One of the other presenters at the even was the head of The Mobility House, founder and then-CEO Thomas Raffeiner. The company’s focus: vehicle-to-grid technology. It was clear he and The Mobility House had been working on the topic for years. The company is still rolling, and it’s been expanding its reach in terms of applications and geography. The news today is for the US market.

The concept is simple: when EVs are plugged into the grid via a smart EV charger, they could theoretically download electricity when electricity is cheap and perhaps even upload electricity (send electricity back to the grid) when it is expensive. However, I’m sure there are all kinds of challenges getting that implemented well and getting past quirky tech hurdles that pop up. With its years of experience, though, The Mobility House is being trusted to implement such a thing by more and more utilities and commercial clients.

Here’s the news today from the company: “The Mobility House North America today announced the unveiling of Cascade EV Aggregator, a vehicle-grid integration platform for utilities. This technology represents the most versatile EV load aggregation tool in North America, allowing charging and discharging optimization across a variety of charger and vehicle asset classes, from home chargers to electric school bus fleets. […]

“The Mobility House North America has built Cascade to address EV load challenges and grid constraints alongside electric utility partners in the United States and Canada. Fleet customers and utilities can now benefit from the charging flexibility offered by the platform’s optimization. While a charge management system (CMS) such as The Mobility House’s ChargePilot® manages charging optimization for a fleet operator, Cascade can work with each CMS at thousands of sites to create flexibility for the distribution grid. Cascade is also unlocking vehicle-to-grid (V2G) value for school bus fleets currently being deployed in California, Massachusetts, and New York.”

Electric vehicle growth comes with many benefits for society, but it also does put more demand on the electricity grid for utilities to deal with. Being able to handle it in smart, efficient, flexible ways is the name of the game. That’s what Cascade is all about. “Cascade EV Aggregator allows electric vehicles to serve as energy storage assets and provide energy services such as demand response, dynamic rate optimization, and grid constraint management. The platform can manage both unidirectional smart charging to incentivize load shifting (V1G) and bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers exporting power from EV batteries to the grid. Cascade receives real-time signals from utilities or market programs and engages EV fleet charge management systems and residential chargers across a service area. Cascade creates individualized charging plans that are optimized to the signal and to vehicle mobility needs, then aggregates the response to provide essential grid services including load reduction and export.”

Sounds good, no?

“The electric school buses in our fleet work hard every day to get students to school safely,” Ernest Epley, Transportation Director, Fremont Unified School District, adds. “And now as a part of The Mobility House’s Cascade Aggregator they can earn revenue for the district supporting the energy grid while they are parked at the depot.”

The Mobility House looks like it’s on a good path here with its initial electric school bus management deals, some early utility deals, etc. We’ll see how much it can grow in the United States with this new Cascade EV Aggregator branding and offering. I presume that the company will have grown a great deal in another 8 years.