For EV drivers, smartness takes yet another form. EV drivers with a private and suitable grid connection can reduce their energy bill through incentives from the grid operator that reflect the available grid capacity. However, an increasing number of EV drivers will rely on public chargers (McKinsey, 2022). For them, access to a charging spot is the primary concern while smart charging and V2G, which requires a stable connection to the grid, will be less relevant.

A key question is how to ensure that other vehicles occupy the scarce charging capacity for as short a time as possible?

Tesla, for example, levies ‘idle’ fees that apply when a car is fully charged and left at a busy supercharger location; the fee is waived if the car is moved within 5 minutes of reaching full charge.

Many other solutions are being explored, such as chargers that make smart use of scarce shared network capacity, with insights gained from real world use of public charge points.

As the electrification of road transport progresses, ‘smartness’ will mean different things to different stakeholders as a range of options emerges for both access to and optimal use of charging facilities.