Volkswagen will have its own energy ecosystem for home charging

The company partners with Otovo and will provide an integrated system with photovoltaic panels and storage batteries: saving up to 40%.

By: Francesco Barontini

Jun 12, 2024 at 5:14am ET

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Volkswagen knows that the future of mobility lies in electric car services. Thus, through its charging company Elli, it has entered into a collaboration with the Norwegian company Otovo. The aim is to use Huawei equipment to connect electric cars to photovoltaic (PV) systems and home storage batteries to optimise electricity consumption.

The partnership marks a further step by Volkswagen in the value chain of the energy sector, where it is already present with wallboxes, a charging network and its own energy tariff offer.

A partnership in key markets

Volkswagen relied on Otovo, a company founded in 2016, because the Norwegian company has been working for almost ten years to enable private homeowners to set up their own PV systems with stationary batteries and is currently present in 13 European countries.

Volkswagen two-way charging

The agreement offers benefits to both. To Volkswagen, as mentioned, to close the circle; to Otovo to offer its services to the customer base of Europe's largest car manufacturer. Giovanni Palazzo, CEO of Elli, said, "In terms of electric vehicle sales, the markets in which Otovo operates account for 70-80% of the total volumes of the European battery car sector."

Costs down by 40 per cent

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Volkswagen and Otovo estimate that the combination of wallboxes and home photovoltaic systems with storage batteries will reduce the cost of charging an electric car by up to 40 per cent.

The partnership will start with the integration of Huawei inverters and batteries into PV systems to build an ecosystem around the electric car. According to Palazzo, "Tthe move is necessary to give new impetus to the electric car sector, which is also hampered by high car prices, a lack of affordable models and range anxiety".