To optimize charging of its electric vehicles, Hawaiian Electric is partnering with Amply Power on a pilot to manage charging infrastructure for four of its vehicles, which are part of the passenger fleet set to be fully electric by 2035.

The pilot program is unique for both Amply Power and Hawaiian Electric, as it utilizes the industry standard of OpenADR (Open Automated Demand Response) to optimize vehicles charging on the system. Elemental Excelerator facilitated and contributed funding to the venture.

Amply’s charging-as-a-service will ensure Hawaiian Electric’s four passenger EVs in this pilot are fully charged and ready to drive at the beginning of each day for minimum cost and impact to the grid. The vehicles being used in the project are three Kia Niros and one Nissan LEAF. Hawaiian Electric is expected to leverage data from the pilot to inform its electrification efforts for its five-island service territory.

Certified by the OpenADR Alliance, Amply Power’s cloud-management software platform uses secure, two-way OpenADR communication specifications. With the software, the utility can turn the electric vehicles charging on its grid into a resource that can respond to load demands in real-time. Additionally, Amply Power can utilize optimization capabilities that modulate load demand to decrease energy consumption as needed and reveal targeted consumption points.

Amply Power’s charging-as-a-service removes the complexities of electrification for fleets by managing the entire planning, financing, and charging process for customers. Amply simplifies electrification by bundling the capital expenditures and complexity associated with establishing electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including utility interconnection, operations and maintenance, energy cost, and more into a fixed price-per-electric-mile-driven usage fee.