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Meeting Drivers Where They Are: Automaker Partnerships and the Next Generation of EV Customer Engagement Strategies
Building EV managed charging programs that move the needle on grid reliability and energy affordability requires automakers, utilities, and platforms working in coordination to orchestrate for constraints from individual distribution assets up to the bulk system and to drive sufficient enrollment to see meaningful grid impacts. But what does that collaboration look like in practice, and how do you design it to scale?
This session brings together Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), General Motors, and WeaveGrid to explore how utilities, automakers, and software platforms can work together to maximize both enrollment and distribution-level grid value. Panelists will discuss how to reach customers through a variety of channels, including at the dealership point of sale, that can support higher conversion rates than traditional mass-market outreach alone.
The conversation will also address what high levels of program participation actually make possible on the grid. When enough drivers in a given area are enrolled, distribution-focused managed charging can do more than shift load off the system peak; it can protect individual transformers and feeders from overloading, deferring costly infrastructure upgrades and delivering affordability benefits to all customers, not just those who drive EVs.
Attendees will leave with actionable insights into the customer engagement strategies, OEM integration pathways, and program design choices that make distribution-optimized managed charging scalable and cost-effective.
