BluWave-ai announced its cloud-based electric vehicle (EV) charging system that helps users understand the best times to charge their vehicles is now available in Ottawa and will be open to a wider national and international audience in 2024.

The Ottawa-based company’s EV Everywhere offering uses artificial intelligence to help users avoid electric grid congestion and charge their EVs using renewable energy on the grid.

A smartphone app alerts clients to the best times to charge an EV, based on cost and greenhouse gas emissions.

After a pilot in Ottawa with the Independent Electricity System Operator, the Ontario Energy Board and Hydro Ottawa, the company believes it has found the right opportunity to expand its offering, based on the rapid growth of EV adoption in Canada and the world.

BluWave-ai received $9.5 million in funding in February 2023 to develop EV Everywhere and facilitate its expansion, with BluWave-ai founder and CEO Devashish Paul travelling the world to sign deals. 

“With our patent-pending EV Everywhere solution, now there is an intelligent way to use car batteries though the grid to off-take more renewable energy when there is nowhere to put it. We are excited to commercialize the platform with lead customers in Ottawa,” Paul said in a release.

Optimizing EV charging in Ottawa and the world

Utility customers in Ottawa can now tap into EV Everywhere, with the platform scheduled for a phased international release throughout 2024.

"As we continue to support our customers' growing energy needs and the transition to a greener, smarter future for our city, an initiative like EV Everywhere will help safeguard our electricity grid from the challenges ahead as part of this energy transition", Guillaume Paradis, the chief electricity officer of Hydro Ottawa, says in the release.

The app will first be available in the rest of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Texas, California and the UAE next year, with availability for targeted European electricity markets in the second half of 2024.

BluWave-ai points to the ballooning number of EVs on roads in Canada and around the world as a source of strain on electric grids. There is also the problem of wasted excess clean electricity in grids that could be used to charge EVs.

“The big challenge with renewable energy is you don’t get it when you need it,” Paul said.

EV Everywhere looks to rectify these issues by managing EV charging with artificial intelligence, recognizing the ideal times for charging at home or at a public Open Charge Point Protocol-compliant charger. The company’s app generates a score based on factors like the renewable energy mix, grid strain and energy costs to determine when EV charging will be the cheapest and result in the lowest emissions.

“What’s happening now is with the influx of EVs, the EVs themselves are a type of storage,” Paul said in a previous interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

“Here’s the opportunity to put more wind and solar energy into the EVs if you do it at the right time . . . If you do it at the wrong time, there might not be wind and solar energy, prices might be high, or you might be using natural gas or coal to generate that electricity.”