Charge with less costs

Charging your EV at home and away

How should you charge your electric vehicle? And where?

The number of electric vehicles is increasing, and driving on electricity is not only cheaper than using fuel but also a more environmentally friendly option. Especially if you get your electricity from us at Vihreä Älyenergia, as our electricity is produced using carbon-free methods, meaning you’re not just shifting fuel consumption and and emissions from your car to somewhere else.

Charging an electric vehicle is easy and convenient, especially when you can charge it at home. Home charging is affordable, and your vehicle will always be ready to go with a full battery whenever you need it. If you have a fixed-rate electricity contract, you always know exactly how much charging your vehicle will cost. However, this is not the cheapest way to charge your vehicle. By combining VÄE’s Spot On spot electricity contract with our Älyenergia app, you can maximize the benefits of affordable and hassle-free electric vehicle charging.

Typically, a fuel-powered vehicle is refueled only when the tank is low. With an electric vehicle, charging is usually done overnight, with the vehicle being charged with the distance driven the previous day. This way, the vehicle’s battery is always full in the morning. For many full-EV owners, charging once or twice a week is enough. This allows for charging when the spot electricity prices are at their lowest. For plug-in hybrids, charging the vehicles’s battery from empty to full usually takes less time than for a full-electric vehicle, allowing for better utilization of shorter periods when spot electricity is cheap.

Say goodbye to constant price browsing

Charging your electric vehicle when electricity is cheap sounds easy, right? But in reality, daily life is busy, and constant browsing of electricity prices can quickly become frustrating. Plus, who really wants to wake up in the middle of the night to plug in their car just because that’s when electricity prices typically drop the most? Scheduling your EV’s charging time is one option, but electricity prices don’t always follow the same pattern overnight, and the cheapest hours can vary. This makes scheduling stressful, as you have to keep adjusting the settings.

With our Smart Energy app, Älyenergia, you can break free from the cycle of constant monitoring and scheduling. The Älyenergia app allows you to automatically start charging your EV when electricity is cheapest and stop charging when prices are higher. You just tell the app when your car needs to be fully charged and ready to go—the Älyenergia Smart Energy app takes care of the rest. It figures out the most cost-effective times to charge your EV before your next trip and does so accordingly.

Älyenergia App? What is it really?

Monitor the spot prices and your comsumption

Energy optimization and savings plan

The cheapest sustainable green energy in Finland*

Cut down on your CO₂ emissions

Extensive Smart Home functionalities

Follow your solar panel energy production

At Vihreä Älyenergia, we developed the Älyenergia Smart Energy app to make tracking spot electricity prices, monitoring electricity consumption, and optimizing energy use as easy as possible for you. In addition to helping you identify and improve your own electricity consumption habits, the Älyenergia app allows you to control various smart devices and manage their usage and charging. The Älyenergia app is compatible with many electric vehicles, heating systems, thermostats, and solar panel inverters. The app controls charging, heating, and many other devices to operate precisely when it’s most cost-effective.

The Älyenergia app and energy optimization not only save money but also benefit the environment. When your electricity use is lower during peak price and consumption times, and instead occurs outside these periods, electricity production generates the least emissions. As a Vihreä Älyenergia customer, your electricity is always 100% carbon-free, producing no carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, so you’re always on the side of the environment. By concentrating your usage outside of peak consumption times, you help the entire electricity production system rely less on fossil energy sources.

* We do not charge a premium for selecting a sustainable, carbon-free alternative for you electricity needs. By combining Älyenergia Smart Energy app with our Spot On – hourly-prices spot energy contract you get the best prices combined with sustainablilty.

AC and DC - how should you charge?

A fully electric vehicle’s battery can be charged with either alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC). Additionally, some of the latest plug-in hybrids support both AC and DC charging. Charging with direct current is always faster because the power is supplied directly to the vehicle’s battery. With AC charging, the current is first fed into the vehicle’s internal charger, which converts the alternating current to direct current. In households (home chargers), the current is always alternating current (AC), which is converted to direct current by the vehicle’s onboard charging device (OBC). Converting AC to DC takes time, which is why charging with AC is slower than with DC.

The fast chargers found at service stations and public charging points are DC chargers. There’s not much benefit in scheduling DC charging, as the purpose is to quickly charge the battery so that the journey can continue after a short break. However, scheduling AC charging at home can save money because the charging takes place over a longer period during which electricity prices can fluctuate significantly.

Things to remember for an EV driver

Driving an electric vehicle is economical, worry-free, and just as easy as driving a gasoline-powered vehicle. Additionally, battery and charging technology is constantly advancing, which speeds up charging times and lowers the prices of new and used electric vehicles. As an electric vehicle owner, it’s important to remember that:

You don’t always need to fully charge the battery of an EV. Partial charging doesn’t significantly affect the battery’s performance or capacity, nor does it damage the battery.
Instead of constant quick charging (DC direct current), it’s beneficial to occasionally charge the battery with slower AC alternating current. Some battery types benefit from slower charging. However, continuous AC charging does not harm the battery.
The battery of an electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle doesn’t need to be empty before charging.
Daily charging won’t damage the battery, as the charger automatically disconnects when charging is complete.
The battery can be charged in several phases overnight; it doesn’t have to be done all at once.
A standard household outlet is only suitable for temporary charging, and when using it, it’s essential to check the outlet’s installation compatibility and limit the charging current.
Fast charging isn’t suitable for all electric vehicles. However, slower AC charging is suitable for all vehicles, both fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
You can use the Älyenergia Smart Energy app to schedule your electric vehicle’s charging and save on charging costs, even if you’re not a Vihreä Älyenergia customer.

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