We asked ourselves: “When charging our scooters, could we reduce our consumption during the deficit in the energy system and increase it when excess energy is available?’. 

The answer was yes!

But we needed some help. To ensure our e-scooters and e-bikes are charged off-peak and with the use of electricity coming from renewable sources, we joined forces with Fusebox, a provider of flexible energy consumption services in the Nordics and Baltics.

Fusebox is a bridge between consumers and energy markets that help monitor energy demand to save on energy costs and reduce CO2 emissions.

The importance of off-peak charging

The majority of people get home from work, cook, and do washing at roughly the same time each day. This puts pressure on the electricity grid — and we don’t want to add to that pressure by charging our vehicles when demand’s the highest, and energy’s in deficit.

We also know that peak-hour charging has the highest impact on CO2 emissions. This is because almost every time you charge your car during peak hours, it increases energy demand consumption.

To deliver electricity during peak hours, there’s a need for peak power plants, or ‘peakers’ — small plants usually running on fossil fuels that produce large amounts of CO2 (on average 500kg/1MWh).

Charging during off-peak hours, however, drastically reduces the need to use peak power plants and reduces CO2 emissions.

Saving CO2 emissions

With Fusebox, we can keep an eye on electricity demand and monitor the source of electricity. This means we can postpone the charging process until when an above-average amount of CO2-free electricity generated from renewables is available in the grids.

By postponing charging to surplus times (10.00 a.m. – 4.00 pm on sunny days), these surpluses are turned into valuable, usable energy. This also allows us to decide to charge during green electricity hours.

We tested this approach in Tallinn with the use of our charging docks. The pilot on one charging dock shows that, with the help of Fusebox, we can potentially save the equivalent of 9,600 tonnes of CO2 over the next five years, if applied to all current and future charging docks. That’s the same as 580,000 km traveled by a motor car, the production of 72,000 plastic bags, or the planting of 690 trees.

Benefits for all

In addition to the environmental benefits, there are other positive effects, too. Vehicles are charged sustainably and on time, and we’re also able to save money, which is then passed onto customers through affordable pricing, so it’s a win-win.

This is because CO2-optimised charging processes significantly cut charging costs (as energy prices tend to be lower at off-peak and when the renewable energy feed’s high).

We’re currently exploring other opportunities to scale our sustainable charging processes. We plan to apply this solution to our warehouses so that we’re managing electricity at a wider scale, all while reducing our impact on the environment even further.

We can’t wait to share the results!