Summary for urgent readers:
- In Switzerland, both solar production and the number of electric vehicles are increasing sharply — intelligent charging allows vehicles to be charged exactly when solar energy is plentiful and electricity is cheap
- ChargeSmart, the smart charging solution from autoSense, automatically optimizes charging processes, reduces charging costs for users by up to 30% and works directly via the vehicles, regardless of the existing charging infrastructure
- With this technology, electric vehicles can also serve as decentralized energy storage for the power grid — they thus help to ensure grid stability and save expensive infrastructure investments
The supply side: solar energy on the upswing
Solar energy now accounts for an impressive 11% of the electricity consumed in Switzerland. The expansion of photovoltaics, particularly in residential areas, has risen sharply in recent years — the installed capacity has increased almost six-fold from 0.3 GW in 2019 to 1.78 GW in 2024. While this makes extremely sense from an environmental point of view and in terms of Switzerland's energy independence, it brings new challenges — namely the weather-related fluctuations in production and overproduction on particularly sunny days. This is especially true in view of the fact that solar energy cannot yet be stored on a large scale for periods of less electricity production. This is also reflected in the so-called “Duck Curve”: The more solar is added, the more electricity prices fall at noon and afternoon when solar energy flows into the grid.
The demand side: e-mobility on the rise
At the end of 2024, 202,000 electric vehicles were already registered in Switzerland, and 2,904 new ones were added in January 2025 alone — 23% more than in January 2024. Electric vehicles are driving up electricity consumption significantly: While a typical single-family home without a heat pump consumes around 4,000 kWh of electricity per year, this increases by a further 2,500 kWh when an electric vehicle is added. This substantial additional demand in turn puts a strain on the grid — particularly critically because many electric cars are charged precisely when electricity is scarce and expensive.
For example, employees come to the office in the morning, plug in their electric vehicles at work and start charging immediately. However, this happens precisely when electricity consumption is skyrocketing anyway, for example because households are starting the day, companies are starting their production, etc. and the sun is not yet strong — electricity prices are correspondingly high. The same scenario is repeated in the evening: Vehicles from logistics, field service, etc. return to the depot, are plugged in and loaded directly. Even at this time, prices are at a peak: People come home from work, cook, watch TV, turn on the washing machine — at the same time, the sun has already set, there is no more PV production, meaning the electricity price is high.
The solution: chargeSmart
The clever combination of both factors with a pinch of intelligence provides the solution: charging vehicles exactly when solar production is running at full speed and electricity prices are therefore low. chargeSmart, our intelligent solution, learns when a driver usually uses their car and predicts individual driving and charging behavior based on this. For example, the system recognizes at which charging station each vehicle is typically plugged in and whether recharging can be carried out there without restrictions, or whether there is a so-called load management system that limits recharging at specific times.
Based on these findings, the user's charging processes are optimized and specifically postponed in times of low electricity prices. For example, if a logistics vehicle comes back to the depot in the evening and is infected, the load only starts in the middle of the night when electricity prices are lower again. This network-friendly charging results in substantial savings of up to 30% in charging costs for the user — depending on the vehicle and charging behavior. A nice side effect: By combining photovoltaic production and demand for electric vehicles, system costs can be reduced, i.e. less network expansion is required. The unique advantage of chargeSmart: Since we control them directly via the vehicles and not through the detour of electricity meters or charging stations, our solution works independently of the installed charging infrastructure and harmonizes perfectly with vehicles of almost all brands.
The user hardly notices anything about the intelligent controller — the system reliably guarantees that the desired charge level is reached and, for example, leaves fast charging processes untouched. While everyone can use the solution, today only companies that procure at least part of the electricity on the spot market and therefore use variable electricity tariffs benefit from the cost savings. Similar for private customers: If they do not have a dynamic electricity tariff, such as a time-variable network tariff, they cannot yet benefit from the product.
From intelligent charging to control energy: The next level
chargeSmart goes even one step further and offers the controlled vehicles on the standard energy markets. Background: The power grid must be constantly maintained at a balance of 50 Hz to prevent power outages. For this purpose, precise forecasts of production and consumption are made. If reality deviates from the forecast, for example because a power plant suddenly fails or the weather changes unexpectedly, there is a risk of an imbalance with critical voltage fluctuations. Swissgrid activates control energy to quickly stabilize the frequency and bring it back to 50 Hz.
Control energy is essential reserves, some of which can be retrieved from Swissgrid in a matter of seconds. Traditionally, a large part of control energy in Switzerland is provided by powerful pumped storage power plants, which can be activated quickly. But control energy can also be supplied by other storage systems — in particular the batteries of thousands of electric cars: “Electric cars will be as important as GrosEP transfer storage power plants. Electric cars as storage systems for the power grid — that is the future,” says Serge Wisselmann, Head of Regulatory Energy Markets Swissgrid, in an interview with Ueli Schmezer. The Federal Council also sees potential. Intelligent charging avoids peak loads and thus saves expensive investments in new lines or reserve power plants, according to a report published last December. Such systems could make a “decisive contribution to better integration of photovoltaic production,” the Federal Council continued.
A simple rough calculation shows the potential of electric vehicles for control energy: According to the study “Understanding Charging Infrastructure 2050” by the Federal Office of Energy, around 2 million electric vehicles are expected in Switzerland by 2035 and as many as 4 million by 2050. Based on the current charging behavior of these vehicles, there is a theoretical potential for control energy of around 1,000 MW in 2035 and an impressive 2,000 MW in 2050. By comparison, 1,000 MW is roughly equivalent to the output of the Linth-Limmern pumped storage power plant, which cost more than 2 billion CHF to build over several years. These figures exceed the control energy capacity currently requested by Swissgrid (approx. +/- 400 MW secondary control energy and +/- 500 MW tertiary control energy) many times over. Although the comparison with Linth Limmern is correct in terms of performance, the pumped storage power plant has a significantly higher energy capacity. In order not to impair user mobility, we intend to use only a small portion of the battery capacity at a time and are therefore unable to provide energy capacity over a longer period of time, while Linth-Limmern is able to maintain its 1,000 MW output over a longer period of time.
The conclusion is obvious: With chargeSmart, the new smart charging solution from autoSense, electric vehicle owners not only save money by reducing their operating costs, but also actively reduce network expansion costs and make an important contribution to a stable, sustainable power supply.
Want to know more about chargeSmart?
Sources:
https://www.swissolar.ch/de/markt-und-politik/markt-schweiz/solarmonitor-schweiz
https://www.epexspot.com/en/market-results
https://publuu.com/flip-book/455636/1220413
https://www.newsd.admin.ch/newsd/message/attachments/78058.pdf
