BMW and E.On have agreed on the first pan-European cooperation for intelligent electric-vehicle charging at home.

The aim of the cooperation is to create a holistic charging ecosystem that will allow users to connect their electrified BMW or Mini vehicle with the energy system, as part of a climate-neutral, sustainable household.

With this cross-sector cooperation, BMW and E.On are laying the groundwork for harnessing the potential of electric vehicles for the transformation towards exclusive use of green energy.

“For us, e-mobility is much more than electric driving: green energy, sustainably-sourced raw materials, charging, recycling – we are driving all these key factors forward at the same time,” said Frank Weber, board member at BMW. “Together with E.On, we will make the car an intelligent element of the smart home. This will bring more balance to the private energy ecosystem, with lower costs and an improved carbon footprint, and will enable smart integration into the energy market in the future.”

Patrick Lammers, board member at E.On, added: “E.On and BMW are already leaders in their industries. We are now leveraging our strengths and combining them to create a unique ecosystem for charging at home. In this way, we will jointly set the standard for electrified vehicles to become part of the energy market in the future and support the energy transition.”

The cooperation will focus on at-home charging, which is already, and will continue to be, the most important use case for charging electrified vehicles. Longer downtimes also mean at-home charging processes are particularly well suited for intelligent control. The ecosystem that E.On and BMW are building is being tailored to take at-home charging to a new level. The core element of the ecosystem is the creation of a common interface that combines three complex and previously separate systems: BMW electric vehicles, customers’ smart homes and the energy market.

BMW will be responsible for the vehicles and charging hardware and will manage the interface with users with a focus on their mobility needs. In addition to providing installation, electrical and connectivity services at users’ homes, E.On will be responsible for ensuring sustainable energy tariffs and access to the energy market, which plays a role in the intelligent control of charging processes.

Combining the expertise of both partners should ensure the vehicle fits seamlessly into the infrastructure of the user’s household and the charging process will run smoothly. At the same time, it allows the benefits of in-house energy generation – for example, through a solar system – and the dynamism of the energy market to be used to benefit the user.

The first offering will be available in several European countries from the mid-second half of this year and will lay the foundations for hardware and networking as a holistic package. Intelligent control of charging processes will initially enable two variants: solar-optimised charging, which allows the largest possible amount of electricity from the home’s own photovoltaic system to be used, and load-optimised charging, which optimally balances the amount of electricity available at home. In addition to convenience, development and use of the ecosystem also offers the potential to save costs and increase household self-sufficiency.

In the coming years, the ecosystem will be expanded to include additional benefits. These will include cost-optimised charging, which will extend the connectivity of fully-electric vehicles and smart homes to the energy system. Users can then take advantage of price developments on the power exchange market with a special electricity contract that allows them to charge at low prices whenever possible. This increases cost efficiency for charging the vehicle. Optimal time slots are also determined based on the user’s planned departure time and required range. This option will be available over the next year.

The cooperation will also create the conditions for enabling bidirectional charging. This technology makes it possible to use the electric vehicle’s high-voltage battery as an energy storage device and feed the stored electricity back into the household or the power grid later.