The Albany Gazette - BluWave Announces Winners of the First Round of the Clean Charge Challenge

OTTAWA, ONTARIO / ACCESS Newswire / February 27, 2025 / BluWave-ai has wrapped up the first round of the Clean Charge Challenge for EV drivers. Winners were announced from four draws based on users charging during grid favourable periods for the month of January, with up to $5,000 of prizes to be won.

The Clean Charge Challenge is an engaging contest that gives BluWave-ai app users opportunities to win prizes based on how they charge their EVs. App users earn points for charging when a load on the grid is low and renewable energy generation is higher. This makes sure they are using the cleanest energy possible to charge their vehicles, putting less strain on the grid, and even actively helping it through programs like demand response.

Many EV users are conscious of their environmental footprint, and want to take steps to improve it. Likewise, many grids have different energy mixes depending on time of day and demand. At the same time, EV charging can pose a challenge to the grid as adoption increases, unless it is coordinated to prevent too many vehicles from charging at once. It can be difficult for drivers to figure out when is best to charge based on these different moving targets.

BluWave-ai's solution provides drivers with app-based automated charging control. BluWave-ai technology intelligently coordinates charging based on current grid conditions and AI-predicted state of the grid and renewables for the next 24 hours, enabling drivers to have a positive impact on the grid and maximize their environmental impact. This generates value to the grid and utilities, and that value gets shared back to the drivers through incentives in the Clean Charge Challenge.

EV drivers optimizing their charging on the platform used 65 megawatt-hours of cleaner energy during the month of January. This is the amount of electricity that 2,600 households consume in a day. These results are impressive, but there is huge untapped potential that still exists. Ontario alone has over 200,000 EVs on the road - this works out to roughly 12 gigawatt-hours of battery storage capacity, roughly the amount of energy the entire province uses in 30 minutes during the busiest electricity demand peaks.

In Ontario, shifting EV charging to times when there's more clean energy on the grid can reduce the CO2 emissions due to generating the energy the car uses by up to 40% over the course of a month. Doing this for all 200,000 EVs in Ontario would reduce emissions by 2.8 million kgCO2eq (kilograms CO2 equivalent) per month, while reducing strain on grid infrastructure. That's equivalent to taking an additional 8800 ICE vehicles off the road.

"BluWave-ai is doing this challenge to help the grid with our AI platform. EV users already made an investment in decarbonization so during the contest, we tried to make sure the amount of energy taken was aligned with the most grid-friendly times," said Devashish Paul, CEO and founder BluWave-ai. "This is being done with no additional infrastructure - just cars that are already in the grid, wireless connectivity, and the BluWave-ai EV Everywhere platform in the cloud. Contestants were able to easily join the challenge without any specific hardware or sensor purchases or modification to their home-charging equipment. This is a made-in-Canada solution that utilities across Canada can contact BluWave-ai to easily deploy."

Additional background on the BluWave-ai EV Everywhere platform can be found in these previous releases with Hydro Ottawa, the distribution utility in Canada's Capital City:

2023: BluWave-ai Operationalizes EV Everywhere in Ontario Grid to Match EV Charging with Renewable Energy

2024: BluWave-ai Completes Canada's First AI-Driven, Multiple EV OEM Demand Response Events to Support Electrical System at Hydro Ottawa

Below are a set of testimonials from a subset of users who were winners from this first round of the Clean Charge Challenge.

"I can't believe I'm a grand prize winner! Registering and using BlueWave.ai has been an amazing experience. It feels great knowing that my charging is optimized to support the grid and the environment. Not only do I save an extra $10 per month on my hydro bill just for participating, but I also accumulated enough Blue Points to plant 13 trees! It feels good to drive green." - Martin P, Ottawa ON

"This is a great tool for anyone concerned about their environmental footprint. Particularly useful is their monitoring of the grid. I use it all the time to avoid charging my EV and other heavy household use when demands on the grid are high." - Neil M, Kanata ON

"Thank you, Hydro Ottawa, for allowing me to participate in this program! I appreciate the opportunity to charge my EV with cleaner energy while supporting a smarter and more sustainable grid. It's great to be part of an initiative that helps reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency in our community." - Mike V, Kanata ON

"The Bluwave app is a great product that allows my family to charge our electric car while being able to automatically stop charging when demands are high on the grid. The ease of use and automation of this app allows us to do a small part to reduce demands on the grid when necessary, all at no cost." - Sean N, Stittsville ON

"BluWave-ai allows me to easily lower my carbon footprint by altering EV charging based on grid electricity production. The EV Everywhere app allows me to easily configure charging preferences and times." - Steve C, Ottawa ON

"One of my co-workers knew that I had just purchased a 2024 Tesla Model 3 and knew that I was a Hydro Ottawa customer. Knowing that, he told me about BluWave-ai and that I could save some money on my Hydro bill. I then downloaded the app and connected it to my car. After a few months I saved almost 100$ on my Hydro bill. Now on an ongoing basis I save 15$ off my Hydro bill by letting the app control when I charge, thus lessening the load on the grid. This month, I was pleasantly surprised with a 100$ contest prize from BlueWave-ai for being one of their top users. Can't wait for future contests and incentives! Thank you!" - Simon M, Kanata ON

"The Bluewave AI app is a great way for me to know the best way to charge my car. As an EV owner, I am very interested in being a responsible electricity consumer and this app is an easy way to make an informed choice regarding my charging schedule. The app also allows me to make other household decisions (home heating, running of appliances, etc) as well. I use the app several times per day." - Mark L, Summerside PEI

BluWave-ai started the challenge in our home provinces of Ontario and PEI where we have the highest integration with grid assets from our cloud platform, reflecting seven years of investment in Smart Grid AI tech development. The result of the first round of the contest shows scalability of the solution and interest level from drivers across Canada. BluWave-ai will be running more challenges in Canada and the U.S. during 2025.

Download the app, link your EV, and get a head start on the next challenge round.

More details on the Clean Charge Challenge can be found here: ev-everywhere.ai.

Please contact us at [email protected].

SOURCE: BluWave-ai

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(O.Robinson--TAG)