The U.S. and Sweden-based distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) software, Emulate Energy, is partnering with Smartcar to integrate EVs into Emulate’s demand response solutions for electricity retailers. Emulate uses Smartcar to expand EV support for energy providers in Europe while provide a single comprehensive software for all customer-owned devices.
With this partnership, energy providers using Emulate can effectively scale EV charging flexibility with a partner that shortens API implementation time and reduces engineering resources.
“We want to empower every citizen to become an active player in the energy transition by enabling every device in their home or office to facilitate renewable energy integration,” said Emulate CEO Shwan Lamei.
Enabling reliable distributed energy resource management
Emulate’s mission is to help electricity retailers master the current energy transition and provide affordable, clean energy to their customers while increasing their margins. These energy providers are responsible for predicting and purchasing precisely the amount of electricity that their customers will use. When customers use more than the purchased amount of electricity, they need to buy more expensive, often non-renewable energy or—in some cases—resort to rolling blackouts.
Emulate helps electricity retailers solve this challenge. The company has developed a software solution that allows energy providers to precisely control aggregate demand and ensure cleaner, cheaper electricity for residential customers. The enrollment of EVs as a DER has a high churn rate, but Emulate is changing that. The software helps energy providers move away from the clunky user experiences and steep learning curves that cause user drop-offs in demand flexibility programs.
“People don't want to have to think about their EV program all the time, so it's very important that the one time they sign up, it works and it lasts,” says Blake Davis, Senior Director of US Operations at Emulate.
Emulate’s partnership with Smartcar enables a convenient and streamlined user experience for consumers to enroll their EVs alongside other devices. This simplicity helps energy providers incentivize more consumers to reap the benefits of lower emissions and financial incentives.
EV drivers profit from having their charging schedules optimized based on different pricing factors. With the Smartcar integration, Emulate gives drivers the convenience and reliability of being to able to conveniently set their preferences — like needing an 80% charge by 7:00am each morning — and not worry about the rest.
Stable EV integrations are crucial here. Smartcar gives Emulate the peace of mind of itnegration reliability, while Emulate gives drivers the peace of mind knowing that their EV is ready to go when they need it.
“We realized that as we scale the business, we can’t do everything – we need to rely on partners, and we need those partners to be at the top of their game not just on effectiveness, but trustworthiness,” says Davis.
How Emulate evaluated Smartcar as their EV API platform
✅ Pricing
✅ EV compatibility
✅ Webhooks
✅ Customer support and API expertise
✅ Opportunities EV compatibility expansion
Before using Smartcar, Emulate built integrations with a dozen different air conditioners, heat pumps, and water heaters. When the company wanted to add electric cars to its software solution, Emulate decided to use the Smartcar API instead of building integrations for different EV makes and models.
“The decision came down to a cost-benefit analysis,” Blake says. “We asked ourselves: What would we pay today, and how would those prices change as we continue to scale out operations? And beyond the basic functionality of the integration, how would opting for Smartcar affect our confidence in what we offer our customers?”
Smartcar gives Emulate a single integration that unlocks:
- Standardized APIs to access an EV’s state of charge, charging status, battery capacity, charge limit, and the ability to start and stop charging remotely.
- Clear and comprehensive SDKs and API documentation for developers.
- Reliable webhooks that enable Emulate’s engineering to receive data at a regular cadence while reducing server loads, reducing latency, and ensuring the timeliness and accuracy of charging data.
An integration designed to scale
When selecting a partner, trust and reliability as a platform were top of mind. When managing EV integrations across brands, the Emulate team needed an integration partner that could help them anticipate brand-specific challenges and work quickly to adapt with sufficient foresight.
Standardized compatibility with 35 EV brands and dedicated API expertise allowed Emulate to seamlessly integrate more robust capabilities into its out-of-the-box vehicle onboarding solution. Emulate also leverages Smartcar’s webhooks for data flexibility to ensure accurate and timely action, like retrieving an EV’s state of charge and automatically starting and stopping charging sessions.
“Emulate aspires to connect to and control every energy device possible. While controls and market participation are our bread-and-butter, for EVs specifically, Smartcar makes it super easy to connect to vehicles regardless of manufacturer and model,” says Davis.
A shared vision for the future of distributed energy
“Emulate’s commitment to energy flexibility and reliability aligns perfectly with Smartcar’s mission. By simplifying EV integrations and enabling proactive load control, we’re excited to help Emulate empower drivers to reduce their energy costs, support grid stability, and contribute to a more sustainable future,” says Sahas Katta, CEO and Co-founder at Smartcar.
We’re excited to see how this partnership will help address the challenges associated with EV enrollment and retention in demand response programs.
Emulate and Smartcar aim to increase EV participation and drive long-term adoption by simplifying EV onboarding processes, improving feature reliability, and providing a user-friendly experience for all consumers. Retail electricity providers in North America and Europe can now contact Emulate Energy to start using the Smartcar-powered solution!
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