Smart energy retailer Discover Energy recently announced a first-of-its-kind program aimed at making electric vehicle (EV) charging at home more affordable. Discover Energy and One Stop Warehouse co-founder and co-CEO Jeff Yu tells us how his team is leading the charge towards a more sustainable and affordable future.
Through a strategic partnership with Ausgrid, Discover Energy’s EV Super Charge program will be the nation’s first commercially available product that negotiates directly with the electricity grid on the customer’s behalf to optimise their EV charging—making it more accessible and cheaper for Aussies to own and charge an EV.
The program, backed by the Smart Energy Council and solar distributor One Stop Warehouse, will be available to all EV owners under the Ausgrid network in the Sydney, Central Coast, Port Stephens and Hunter regions from July 1.
Related article: Tesla research shows new battery could last 100 years
“We are delighted to be the first in Australia to work directly with the distribution network to enable greater accessibility to smart charging solutions for Australians. With research suggesting that EV owners charge mostly at home, we saw an opportunity in leveraging our expertise, in collaboration with our extensive network and channel partners, to bring an innovative, cost-saving solution to consumers,” Jeff explains.
“In addition to getting customers the best possible rates, consumers have the chance to trade excess energy from their EV back to the grid at optimal times using a VPP trading platform, or to supplement their solar panels and power the home.
“The program aims to address the anxiety faced by EV owners who are unable to charge their vehicle at home due to a lack of infrastructure. Home smart EV chargers can charge your vehicle almost 10 times faster than regular wall outlets which means getting in the most charging at the cheapest times for EV owners. Our program also helps to future-proof the use of EVs by assisting the network to manage a class of devices that will use more energy than any devices on the grid today,” he added.
With rising fuel costs and energy insecurity on everyone’s minds at the moment, Australia’s uptake of EVs looks set to accelerate.
“Although initial progress has been slow, with growing infrastructure and government incentives, Australia now has many of the key ingredients for widespread electric vehicle adoption. With a growing range of EVs available teamed with rising fuel prices, we have seen a heightened interest in our range of smart chargers as customers are pushed to make the switch across. Up-front costs are expected to lower greatly over the next five to 10 years, EVs will undoubtedly make up a larger proportion of vehicles on Australian roads in the future. Consumers become more reliant on businesses like Discover Energy to support their EV charging needs and we have made significant steps in understanding what our customers need now and in the future.”
While much of Jeff’s early career was spent within the IT industry, today he’s focused on leading the teams at Discover Energy and One Stop Warehouse, taking care of the operations team as well as the technical, engineering and R&D facets of the businesses.
“After beginning my career in Australia as a senior software engineer at Red Hat, I moved on to establish One Stop Warehouse in 2013. Having worked for others for many years, my business partner Anson Zhang and I wanted to forge our own path in an industry that was constantly evolving and innovating—solar energy.”
Their business has since grown to become Australia’s largest solar panel distributor. Off the back of this, Anson and Jeff founded Discover Energy in 2018 with the goal of accelerating Australia’s renewable energy transition.
“Personally, I’m passionate about providing people with the opportunity to experience the benefits of renewable energy. When I arrived in Australia, I saw the vast blue sky that covered this expansive land and realised there was a fantastic opportunity to provide Australian consumers with a better alternative to the current offerings from traditional energy providers,” Jeff says.
“Discover Energy is focused on offering customers smarter, greener power. Our state-of-the-art software, teamed with One Stop Warehouse’s extensive solar network, allows our customers to have the benefit of participating in energy trading through our Virtual Power Plant (VPP).
“With VPP becoming a major renewable energy solution across the globe, customers have the power to redistribute energy back to the grid by selling their excess battery energy at optimised prices while also contributing to a greater influx of green energy into the traditional energy grid. The benefits to our customers are numerous, ranging from meeting peak electricity demands, providing reliable power, to returning dollars to our customers’ own pockets.”
Now in its fourth year of operation, Discover Energy has outgrown its ‘startup’ hat and has had to acquire new strategies to keep pace with its expansion.
“As a small start-up, managing the team was relatively straightforward but challenges arose once we began to hire employees throughout the country, with the need to keep motivation high becoming a real priority,” Jeff explains.
“We have been able to overcome this due to our remote management strategy. A real key to the success of the organisation has been an open-minded approach, allowing for the utilisation of our employee’s strengths and knowledge to capitalise on all opportunities.”
Asked how he would personally like to see our leaders and the wider industry address Australia’s energy transition, Jeff says the time has come to look past solar subsidies and focus on affordability for low and medium income earners.
“There isn’t a need for new solar subsidies, especially roofing as there are already initiatives in place to support its growth. There’s also enough solar available for the network and system to handle comfortably.
“The real solar issue that industry leaders and the government should be addressing is how to make solar more accessible to low and medium income earners. Historically, low-income households have not been able to afford solar panels for their residences so have borne the brunt of the rising cost of living creating increasingly tougher living situations and further increasing socio-economic gaps.
“Another way to support rising electricity bills is to invest in smart technology that stores excess energy in the grid from, typically, the middle of the day and release it at peak times such as the evening.”
Discover Energy talks about “the collective power of small changes” and the role individual consumers can play in fighting climate change. According to a recent report from Discover Energy, the majority (82 per cent) of Australians agree renewable energy is the key to a greener future.
“What’s more, 67 per cent are planning on switching to solar energy in the future, continuing Australia’s global dominance in renewable energy,” Jeff says.
“Consumers underestimate the impact they have as individuals to create big change and we’re currently witnessing a growing frustration in the Australian landscape on climate inaction. The demand from consumers for better and more sustainable options has certainly spurred the industry into acting more rapidly.
“I think it’s a joint effort. We can’t expect consumers to be better when there aren’t the products or range for them to be the change they want to be, which is why recent scrutiny of the energy sector has been welcomed, because, without it, industries are left to coast at the pace they choose.”
Asked about Discover Energy’s future plans, Jeff says the team is currently investigating vehicle-to-grid (V2G) smart technology, which is being touted as a key measure in providing better grid stability.
“As we know, electric vehicles possess major untapped potential, especially if the capacity of their batteries can be utilised by energy companies,” Jeff explains.
“EV batteries are a game-changer for the energy sector with them being able to store seven-to-10 times more energy than a standard home battery. We’re presently investigating technology that can pull energy from car batteries, such as V2G smart technology, which will provide energy providers more options to meet household demand for electricity and allow them to provide energy to Australians for free.”
Related article: ReAmped Energy advises customers to look elsewhere
EV SUPER CHARGE PROGRAM—HOW IT WORKS
Customers who sign up to the program will receive JET Charge’s ChargeMate smart charger; an OCPP compliant charger which features a universal socket that is compatible with all EVs sold in Australia to power EV charging at home. The Discover Energy Application Programming Interface (API) enables the technology from the charger to communicate with electric vehicles, ensuring users are charging at the best times, for the best rates, while making sure your vehicle has charge when you need it. Through the alliance with the network, Discover Energy’s EV Super Charge program’s customers will have access to power at discounted rates making driving, maintaining your EV a breeze and keeping costs to a minimum. Discover Energy will also be able to integrate the EV charger with existing solar installations to enable a customer to operate as a VPP.
