BMW, Ford, and Honda Form New Company to Improve EV and Power Grid Connectivity

BMW Group, Ford Motor Company, and American Honda Motor Co., Inc. announced an agreement to form ChargeScape, LLC, a new equally-owned company that will develop a single, cost-effective platform that will connect electric utilities, automakers, and interested electric vehicle customers.

ChargeScape will enable EV consumers to gain financial rewards through a variety of managed charging and energy-sharing services not previously available with regular gasoline-powered vehicles. The sale and subsequent formation of ChargeScape are subject to regulatory approvals, and the company is expected to be operational early next year.ChargeScape’s one platform, built on years of cross-industry Open Vehicle-Grid Integration Platform (OVGIP) collaboration, will eliminate the need for individual connections between each automobile brand and each electric utility. The ChargeScape platform will provide electric utilities with access to EV battery energy from a diverse pool of EVs. Participating EV users may receive financial rewards by charging at “grid-friendly” hours via flexible and regulated schedules. Customers who own electric vehicles will ultimately have the potential to have an even greater influence by sharing the energy stored in their EV batteries with the grid during peak demand via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications.

ChargeScape will enable the smart use of plugged-in EV batteries by securely delivering energy data to electric utilities and system operators such as aggregated demand response, off-peak, low-cost hours, and the availability of high renewable energy. These energy services are predicted to be a cost-effective, operational advantage for electric utilities due to the seamless integration with participating automakers and the expectation of high levels of EV customer membership.