Sagewell and DTE Energy have partnered to offer Bring Your Own Charger® (BYOC) to their customers throughout Michigan. BYOC shifts electric vehicle load to off-peak hours without any hardware or active load management by leveraging whole-home AMI data. Additionally, BYOC is completely "touchless," which not only maximizes participation rates, but also avoids any COVID-19 related concerns from customers or utilities.
This is our largest BYOC program to-date, but just like elsewhere, BYOC has several advantages over traditional hardware based approaches
1. Higher market penetration
BYOC on average enrolls about 50% of eligible EVs in a utility service territory. Smart Chargers, in-car devices and time of use rates rarely get above 20% in even the best case.
2. More load shifting
BYOC doesn't just shift load on the peak days. By shifting EV load 365 days per year, BYOC is able to maximize beneficial grid impacts all the time, from reducing transformer load to utilizing less expensive overnight power production
3. The only cost-effective option: no load control hardware required
Even in markets where transmission and capacity peaks are over $200/kW per year, load control hardware based programs cost more than they save. BYOC has no hardware costs, and utilizes advanced software and algorithms to lower costs as much as possible.
Finally, because BYOC has no hardware, EV drivers are able to enroll in just 7 minutes on their smartphone and utilities can launch BYOC in just 30 days! All of these factors together mean that BYOC is the single most effective way to shift EV load.
Read the official press release here
