This California EV charging pilot saved drivers $200 a year and made the grid smarter
An EV charging pilot in California is flipping the script on how and when we plug in, and it could save drivers hundreds while making the grid cleaner and more stable.
The program, called ChargeWise California, is led by EV charging software company ev.energy and funded by the California Energy Commission’s REDWDS initiative. It ran in partnership with two local community energy providers: MCE and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE).
Early results are in, and they show that when EVs are charged based on hourly price signals and grid conditions, not just static Time-of-Use (TOU) rates, everyone wins. EV drivers saved an average of $200 a year compared to TOU rates alone. More importantly, this kind of smart charging pushed up to 98% of EV charging to off-peak hours, compared to the 60-70% typically seen with TOU-only rates and 90% when TOU is paired with traditional managed charging.
Here’s how the pilot worked: ChargeWise California used dynamic pricing to encourage drivers to charge when energy is cheapest and cleanest, like during the day when solar is abundant. That helped shift as much as 30% of charging to midday, cut down on electricity costs, and avoided strain on the grid during evening peaks. It also helped avoid the so-called “timer peaks” that happen when everyone plugs in at the same time.
This approach didn’t just help EV drivers. Because flexible charging reduces overall system strain, it benefits all utility customers, even those without EVs. ev.energy estimates that smart, grid-aligned charging could deliver over $1,000 in system-wide value per EV per year.
To keep things fair, the pilot used a submetering method that only applied dynamic pricing to EV charging – not the whole house. That meant customers without solar panels or batteries weren’t penalized for being unable to shift their entire home’s energy use. More than 1,000 people signed up in just two months, and over half were from disadvantaged communities.
And when dynamic pricing is paired with clear communication and automation, participation gets easier, savings increase, and the grid gets more flexible.
“Enrolling in MCE Sync was incredibly easy, and it has made managing my EV charging so simple,” said MCE customer Franco Maynetto. “I love being able to track my energy consumption and see how much I’m saving each month.”
Nick Woolley, CEO and co-founder of ev.energy, says the key to making managed charging work is to build solutions that are dynamic, equitable, and easy to use. “We need an approach that targets flexible loads, is built through collaboration, and ensures everyone benefits—especially underserved communities,” he said.
SVCE CEO Monica Padilla echoed that. “Helping our customers charge off-peak to lower their bills and align their charging with when energy is cleanest is not just valuable for our community, but for the broader California energy ecosystem,” she said.
MCE’s Alice Havenar-Daughton added that the ability to experiment with rate structures through partnerships is key: “Combining targeted dynamic pricing with managed charging can significantly shift peak load and reduce costs, especially for underserved communities.”
In phase 2 of ChargeWise California, ev.energy will partner with utilities to “tap into the full value” of flexible charging.
Read more: With a $30M raise, SparkCharge takes EV fleet charging off-grid
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Tesla (TSLA) released its financial results and shareholders’ letter for the second quarter (Q2) 2025 after market close today.
We are updating this post with all the details from the financial results, shareholders’ letter, and the conference call later tonight. Refresh for the latest information.
Tesla Q2 2025 earnings expectations
As we reported in our Tesla Q2 2025 earnings preview yesterday, the Wall Street consensus for this quarter was $22.279 billion in revenue and earnings of $0.40 per share.
The expectations had been significantly downgraded over the last month, as analysts were surprised by Tesla’s announcement of much lower deliveries than expected in the first quarter.
How did Tesla do compared to expectations?
Tesla Q2 2025 financial results
After the market closed today, Tesla released its financial results for the first quarter and confirmed that it delivered on expectations with earnings of $0.40 per share (non-GAAP), and it exceeded revenue expectations with $22.496 billion during the last quarter.
Tesla’s earnings per share are down 23% year-over-year amid a booming EV market.
Operating income decreased 42% year-over-year to now less than $1 billion, and almost half of it came from regulatory credits.
Tesla’s cash on hand has decreased this quarter for the first time in years. The company lost about $200 million of its giant war chest – now sitting at $36.8 billion.
We will be posting our follow-up posts here about the earnings and conference call to expand on the most important points (refresh the page to see the most recent posts):
Here’s Tesla’s Q2 2025 shareholder presentation in full:
Here’s Tesla’s conference call for the Q2 2025 results:
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Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, which CEO Elon Musk claims is ahead of the industry and will sell in the trillions of dollars, failed while serving popcorn on the first day of Tesla’s new diner launch.
Musk has been touting Optimus as a revolutionary product that will generate “trillions of dollars” per year for Tesla.
It’s the latest pivot that the CEO has led Tesla into, as electric vehicle sales are declining, and it is becoming increasingly clear that its self-driving effort is unlikely to be profitable anytime soon.
The company needs new revenue streams to justify a $1 trillion valuation, given its declining revenue and earnings.
However, we have been reporting on how the program appears to be in shambles lately.
Last month, Tesla’s head of the program, Milan Kovac, left the company just a few months after being promoted to vice-president.
Earlier this month, we learned that Tesla paused production to perform some much-needed upgrades to the current version of the robot, as it is reportedly currently only able to move some batteries within Tesla’s workshop at a rate lower than that of human workers.
That’s despite Tesla claiming for months that the robot is already performing useful work within its factories and plans to ramp up production to 100,000 units per month next year, with the goal of starting to sell the robot.
Aside from gullible Tesla shareholders, not many people believe this narrative. The main issue is that Tesla is not seen as having a lead in humanoid robots, which is still a nascent industry, and its previous demonstrations have been misleading.
For example, Tesla was less than forthcoming about its robots being teleoperated by humans during its ‘We, Robot’ event last year.
The launch of its new diner in Los Angeles was the latest occasion to showcase Optimus. Tesla had an Optimus robot serve popcorn to customers.
Again, Tesla employees at the event confirmed to attendees that the robot was teleoperated, which makes the demonstration unimpressive to start with, but the disappointment doesn’t stop there.
The robot was seen frozen and stopped operating during the first day of the Tesla diner launch.
Attendees were told that the robot lost connection.
Electrek’s Take
To be clear, Tesla can only get the Optimus robot to serve popcorn for a short period before it fails, even with the use of human teleoperation.
Yet, Musk claims that Tesla will make 100,000 of these next year and sell them to customers.
It makes no sense. It’s similar to Tesla’s robotaxi service in Austin, which requires teleoperation and a human safety monitor with a finger on a kill switch at all times.
That said, I honestly believe that Tesla will be able to scale Optimus faster than its robotaxi service. However, they will both scale much slower than Tesla shareholders currently believe and the competition is already ahead of both.
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BYD officially launched the Atto 1 in Indonesia on Wednesday. Starting at just $12,000 (IDR 195 million), the Atto 1 is now one of the most affordable EVs on the market.
BYD launches the Atto 1 entry-level EV
The Atto 1 is a rebadged version of BYD’s top-selling electric car in China, the Seagull EV. BYD’s smallest and most affordable EV is sold under the names Dolphin Mini and Dolphin Surf in other overseas markets.
BYD introduced the Atto 1 at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) on Wednesday, priced from IDR 195 million, or about $12,000.
The new entry-level EV is available in two trims: Standard Range Dynamic and Long Range Premium. Powered by a 30.08 kWh BYD Blade battery, the standard range Atto 1 Dynamic offers a NEDC range of 300 km (186 miles).
Upgrading to the Premium model costs IDR 235 million ($14,500), but it’s equipped with a bigger 38.88 kWh battery, providing an NEDC range of 380 km (236 miles).
The interior resembles that of other BYD brand vehicles, featuring a minimalist, high-tech smart cockpit. It features a 10.1″ intelligent touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as a 7″ digital driver’s instrument display.
Meanwhile, the Long Range Premium version comes with an added wireless charging pad and a tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel.
At 3,959 mm long, 1,720 mm wide, and 1,590 mm tall, the Atto 1 is smaller than a Toyota Yaris, but slightly bigger than the Kia Picanto.
“This launch in Indonesia marks the first release of the Atto 1 in ASEAN, and the car is now available for pre-order,” BYD Indonesia’s operations director, Nathan Sun, said at the event.
The Atto 1 is BYD’s third electric vehicle to arrive in Indonesia, and the brand’s most affordable yet. BYD also sells the Seal, starting at IDR 629 million, Atto 3 SUV (IDR 515 million), and Dolphin (IDR 425 million).
Indonesia is the largest auto market in Southeast Asia, and EV sales are picking up with new government policies supporting local production. In the first half of the year, the EV market share doubled to 10% from 5% in the same period last year.
Earlier today, Toyota, which controls around 30% of the Indonesian auto market, announced plans to begin building EVs locally by the end of 2025.
Source: JakartaGlobe, BYD Indonesia
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