Kia Canada has teamed up with a Canadian energy technology company that specializes in electric vehicle energy management to make life easier for EV drivers living in older homes.
The company in question is Variablegrid Adaptive Power, which has a goal to eliminate the cost and difficulty of installing a home charger in older homes that may not have the extra electrical power for Level-2 EV charging. To manage the issue, Variablegrid uses an adaptive load management technology powered by artificial intelligence to monitor real-time energy usage. It then adjusts power to the EV charger based on available capacity.
“One of the biggest reasons people hesitate to buy an EV is uncertainty about home charging,” said Dan Lafferty, CEO and Co-Founder of Variablegrid, in a statement. “We’ve bundled everything Kia EV buyers need; smart charging, intelligent power management and a seamless solution designed to simplify the transition to EV ownership.”
In its update Kia Canada said Variablegrid’s technology, through its partnership with the OEM, allows Kia homeowners an EV charger without the costly electrical upgrades to their electrical panel often required in older homes.
David Sherrard, Director of Strategic Planning at Kia Canada, added in a statement that the partnership with Variablegrid “directly supports this mission by removing common cost and infrastructure barriers associated with home charging, especially in older homes that cannot support traditional EV chargers.”
