ev.energy Wins $11 Million to Grow ChargeWise to 79,000 EV Drivers

• ev.energy secured $11 million from the California Energy Commission for ChargeWise Phase 2, a $22-million push to enroll 79,000 EV drivers by 2028.
• The software times home charging to day-ahead CAISO signals; ev.energy says Phase 1 moved up to 30% of charging into midday solar hours.
• The CEC money covers half of partners' enrollment and incentive costs. Drivers can now register interest, and at least half must live in disadvantaged communities.

ev.energy secured $11 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to take its ChargeWise managed-charging program to 79,000 electric vehicle drivers by 2028. The company announced the award on Oct. 20. About 9,000 drivers are enrolled today.

Partner money matched by the CEC lifts the Phase 2 budget to $22 million. Most of the grant is match funding for utilities and community choice aggregators (CCAs), covering half their driver acquisition, incentive and onboarding costs. Another $1 million funds product work, including vehicle-to-everything charging. Phase 1 ran with MCE and Silicon Valley Clean Energy; Phase 2 adds incentives through Clean Power Alliance's EV SmartCharge program.

ChargeWise runs on Eve, ev.energy's virtual power plant platform. It builds daily charging schedules from day-ahead California ISO (CAISO) supply, demand and price signals, and drivers keep their existing rate. The aim is to move EV load out of the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. peak and into cheap midday solar.

That midday surplus is a grid problem. CAISO curtailed 3.4 million MWh of utility-scale wind and solar in 2024, 93% of it solar, U.S. Energy Information Administration data show.

ChargeWise in numbers

• Up to 98% of Phase 1 charging ran off-peak, ev.energy says, versus 60% to 70% on time-of-use rates alone.
• Up to 30% of charging shifted into midday solar hours, the company says.
• About $200 a year in average driver savings over time-of-use rates alone, ev.energy says.
• $314 of CEC and partner money per added driver, across 70,000 new enrollments (list.solar calculation).
• 28%: the $11 million award as a share of the $39.7 million Phase 2 ceiling in 2024 CEC documents (list.solar calculation).
• 80,392 new zero-emission vehicles were sold in California in the third quarter of 2026, CEC data show.

ChargeWise sits under the CEC's REDWDS managed-charging solicitation. CEC business meeting documents from April 2024 capped the agreement at $41.3 million. Phase 1 got $1.6 million, and extra funding could scale it to 275,000 deployments. The documents list WattTime and Leap as Phase 1 partners. ev.energy says it is one of two Phase 1 recipients picked for Phase 2.

"We are building ChargeWise as long-term grid infrastructure that will continue operating well beyond CEC grant funding," CEO Nick Woolley said in a statement.

California drivers can now register interest. ev.energy says it will also engage CAISO and the California Public Utilities Commission as enrollment builds toward the end-2028 target.