Accelerating the energy transition through smart charging

Deftpower is still young, but the ambitions of the Arnhem based company have been big from the start in 2020. In Deftpower’s vision, electric vehicles (EVs) are not just a way to get from A to B, but also play a key role in the energy transition. In the near future, they will become energy banks flexible buffers that store surplus sustainably generated energy for moments when demand exceeds supply.

To accelerate the energy transition, Deftpower wants to offer EV users, energy providers, charging network operators and other mobility service providers the very best way to charge EVs. More convenience leads to faster EV adoption, which in turn speeds up the phase out of fossil fuels.

Delivering a superior customer experience

How does Deftpower aim to create that superior customer experience? Partly through a portal that enables mobility providers to manage their charging networks and fleets, configure rates, handle payments and invoicing, and communicate with drivers about issues such as current outages. Deftpower also offers a white label charging app that car manufacturers, leasing companies and fuel card providers can brand in their own style. The app must deliver a superior experience at home and on the road, ensuring EV drivers remain satisfied customers. It therefore gives access to more than 500,000 charging points across Europe, enables authentication and payment at charging stations, and provides suggestions for optimal charging locations and updates about charging sessions.

Smart charging

In 2023, our colleague, senior consultant Raymond, helped develop and roll out a new feature in the Deftpower app: “smart charging”.

This is especially useful for home charging, particularly in combination with a dynamic electricity contract. What we built is a function that determines the optimal, meaning the cheapest, charging profile.

Based on the details the user enters such as the required charge level and the planned departure time and based on the expected electricity rates for the coming 24 hours, the app determines the best charging times. “This doesn’t have to be a continuous period. A charging session can also be paused to take advantage of hourly price fluctuations.”

Reverse engineering

“Deftpower is a company with an established structure and systems, an experienced software development team and a clear vision they stick to. I was truly part of the team. After quickly mastering the domain knowledge, the various systems and teams and their interdependencies, it was mainly a matter of making progress.”

The goal was to bring smart charging live for a much larger group of users. That meant enabling communication with vehicles for several of the most common car brands in the Deftpower customer base, such as sending commands to start or pause a charging session.

That is not always easy, Raymond explains: “I believe Tesla is the only manufacturer that has opened its API for this. For other manufacturers, it is a matter of reverse engineering to make that communication possible. When we started, this worked for three car brands; by the end of my time at Deftpower, we had reached eight. And enabling that also meant testing the software we developed on site at the manufacturer.”

Preparing for the future

“The features we added to the app are already valuable. But Deftpower is also clearly preparing for the possibility of cars feeding electricity back into the grid in the future, known as bidirectional charging. This fits perfectly with their vision of using electric vehicles to help accelerate the energy transition.”