Electric Vehicle Growth Creates Grid Opportunity and Challenge
Electric vehicles (EVs) are surging, and the numbers have never been clearer: global EV sales surpassed 17 million units in 2024, marking approximately 25% year-over-year growth. These sales accounted for more than 20% of all new cars sold worldwide. Looking ahead, global EV sales are projected to exceed 20 million units in 2025, a roughly 17% increase, and will likely account for one-quarter of all new vehicles sold globally.
This trajectory represents one of the most transformative shifts in grid demand since the rise of residential air conditioning. But behind the headlines lies a critical challenge: the grid is not inherently prepared for this surge. EV adoption represents both a load growth challenge and a flexibility opportunity. The question for utilities, regulators, and solution providers is no longer if the grid will adapt, but how quickly and intelligently it can.
The Two Sides of EV Charging
At the PLMA EV Symposium 2025 in Denver, CO, Connected Energy was a major sponsor highlighting how solving EV charging requires approaching the problem from both sides of the meter:
1. EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment – Supply Side)
- Utilities and aggregators must orchestrate millions of distributed chargers across residential, workplace, and public networks.
- Without coordination, EVSE represents a fragmented, unmanaged load profile comprised of many competing OEM hardware vendors.
- CE’s CNRG DERMS platform enables direct charger integration, giving utilities the ability to intelligently scheduling, curtail, and optimize charging sessions in real time regardless of the EVSE equipment. This reduces system peaks and defers costly infrastructure upgrades.
- Beyond the charger, the vehicle itself is the flexible asset. Telematics data provides visibility into driver behavior and patterns, vehicle location and communications status, battery State-of-Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH), and charging preferences and charging session details.
- Connected Energy’s CNRG DERMS platform integrates with telematics APIs, enabling vehicle-level participation in demand response programs regardless of where the vehicle is located. This allows for more precise dispatch and ensures customer-centric programs balancing grid reliability with driver needs.
Why This Matters for Utilities
- Grid Reliability: Smart orchestration of EV load prevents local distribution overloads and system-wide stress.
- Cost Avoidance: Managed charging reduces the need for accelerated infrastructure buildouts and in many cases can defer incremental plant investment by several years.
- Customer Engagement: By working with both chargers and vehicles, utilities can offer incentives directly to customers while maintaining system integrity.
- Decarbonization Goals: EVs can become part of a renewable balancing strategy, charging when solar/wind is abundant and curtailing during times of high energy prices or when the grid is stressed due to high demands.
Connected Energy’s Role in the EV Transition
Connected Energy is uniquely positioned because it bridges the gap between supply and demand data. At PLMA, Connected Energy showcased how its platform:
- Connects with OEM telematics systems for vehicle-level participation.
- Enables utility-grade dispatch across both sides of the EV equation.
- Utilizes both supply and demand data to enhance utility forecasting and planning allowing proactive utility investment.
Looking Ahead
The future of EV charging is not just about plugging in it’s about connecting intelligently. Supply-side EVSE data tells us where charging happens. Demand-side telematics tells us how, when, and why. Together, they provide the full picture utilities need to manage the EV era.
Connected Energy prepares utilities for a future where electric vehicles adoption will not just overcome grid limitations, but transform the grid itself, becoming a pillar of grid flexibility, actively supporting a stable power supply.
A winning EV program combines customer friendly design and ease of use, robust technology and data management, flexible load control capabilities and alignment with the needs of the utility grid.
About Connected Energy
Connected Energy provides advanced DERMS solutions that help utilities and grid operators integrate distributed resources—ranging from irrigation pumps to EVs—into reliable, flexible, and decarbonized energy systems.
