Enel Enters U.S. Mobility Market with Acquisition
David Wagman | October 25, 2017
Enel S.p.A., through its U.S. subsidiary EnerNOC, is buying California-based eMotorWerks, a North American supplier of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, called JuiceBox, and owner and operator of JuiceNet, an internet of things (IoT) platform for the smart management of EV charging and other distributed energy storage facilities.
Through the JuiceNet platform, facilities can be remotely controlled and aggregated for grid balancing purposes relying on unidirectional and bidirectional (vehicle-to-grid, V2G) electricity flows.
The acquisition marks Enel's entrance into the U.S. electric mobility market.
"Electric vehicles have the potential to be one of the most disruptive technologies the modern electricity grid has faced in the last 100 years," said Francesco Venturini, head of Enel's Global e-Solutions division.
Electrification of transportation is one of the largest greenhouse gas reduction opportunities facing the planet and electric vehicles are “quickly becoming the largest flexible resource on the grid,” said Val Miftakhov, eMotorWerks founder and CEO.
With smart energy management by JuiceNet, EVs can provide much of the grid balancing capacity to enable the 100 percent renewable grid around the world. Enel plans to use JuiceNet platform's functions in all of its EV charging stations globally.
With eMotorWerks' JuiceNet platform, users can remotely schedule and control the "greenest" and most cost-effective times to charge their EVs. For example, JuiceNet allows users to schedule EV charging when electricity from domestic solar rooftop systems is most abundant.
Also, EVs, V2G charging stations and other storage facilities can be used to respond to network signals, aggregating charging and discharging activities in order to balance electricity flows in the grid when needed. These balancing services can provide additional revenue streams for EV owners, potentially lowering the total cost of ownership.
eMotorWerks is based in San Carlos, California, and employs 55 people. The company has deployed more than 25,000 smart-grid enabled charging stations to date.
Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global, power, gas and renewables markets. It ranks among Europe's largest utilities in terms of market capitalization and figures among Europe's leading power companies in terms of installed capacity and reported EBITDA.
