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An electric vehicle (EV) tariff provided by Octopus Energy now manages a combined total of 1GW worth of EV batteries.
Intelligent Octopus Go, launched in 2022, now manages 150,000 EV batteries which are combined into a virtual power plant via the company’s Kraken platform, providing flexibility to the grid.
Through the tariff, customers use the Octopus Energy app to set their vehicle to charge at times when there is abundant of low cost and low carbon energy and when the grid is less busy.
Octopus said the total managed capacity is equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power the cities of Birmingham and Leeds on a typical evening.
Recently published figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), show that Britain has 1 million EVs registered. More than 250,000 of these are now on Octopus smart tariffs.
Alex Schoch, head of flexibility at Octopus Energy, said: “We’re seeing a paradigm shift in global energy – moving from dumb to smart systems that dynamically manage energy demand and supply in an Uber-style fashion.
“Now being able to manage a virtual power plant of 150,000 EVs has massive benefits for not only our future green grid, but every person that pays an energy bill too. We’re excited to see it grow even more from here.”
Figures published earlier this year by the SMMT showed that a record number of EVs were sold in 2023.
In total, 315,000 new EVs were sold last year, some 50,000 more than in 2022.
The number of EVs sold last year is also more than the combined number of sales made in 2020 and 2021.
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