We are delighted to present a Q&A session with Alex Thwaites, the Director of EV at OVO. With 20 years of experience in the built environment focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy, and a keen focus on e-mobility in recent years, Alex has made significant contributions to the field. His journey includes 15 years at two of the largest energy retailers in the UK, where he successfully delivered carbon and cost savings at scale, driven by his passion for helping customers use less energy, save money, and tackle the climate crisis. Throughout this insightful Q&A session, Alex shares his expertise on OVO Energy’s Plan Zero strategy, innovative technologies enhancing the EV experience, preparations for future challenges in the electric mobility sector, key lessons from his extensive career, and the pivotal role of industry events like the London EV Show in advancing EV initiatives.

#LEVS: How has OVO Energy’s Plan Zero strategy influenced your approach to developing and implementing EV solutions?

#Alex Thwaites: For those that don't know, Plan Zero is OVO’s sustainability plan. It's our response to the climate crisis and a commitment to becoming carbon neutral across our operations by 2035. 

We have three key focus areas - Climate, Customers and Culture - which form the basis of every decision we make. That includes our electric vehicle (EV) strategy, which is focused on enabling OVO customers to make the switch to EVs so that it makes sense for their wallets and the planet. 

Helping drivers switch from a fossil fuel vehicle (ICE) to an electric vehicle (EV) is one of the most impactful things we can do in terms of reducing carbon emissions -  along with electrifying home heating. That is why we are committed to the transition to EVs and helping our customers understand and reap the rewards of switching to an EV through our range of specialist EV offerings and rewards. 

#LEVS: What innovative technologies and solutions has OVO introduced to enhance the EV experience for both B2C and B2B customers?

#Alex Thwaites: I love this question as I genuinely believe that what we are doing is game changing for the industry and customers alike. 

Our Charge Anytime offering, for example, is an exciting, specialist add-on, which differs from the standard “time of use” EV tariff, which is only available at cheaper, off peak times. OVO Charge Anytime is exactly how it sounds - a “type of use” add-on that can be added to any OVO energy tariff for customers to charge their car at any time of the day or night for the same amazing rate of 7p/kWh. 

A type of use add-on means we connect directly to the EV charger or directly to the car via API integrations, which enable us to disaggregate the energy used to power the home from the energy used to charge the car. This enables us to provide customers with two separate energy rates;  a home rate and an EV rate, rather than a peak/off peak rate. 

Because we separate the energy billing for home and EV, our customers can smart charge their EV at a reduced rate 24 hours a day, with no time restriction at all and  no anxiety about trying to fit in a full charge during a small overnight window. This is a real game-changer for people such as NHS staff and other shift workers, where overnight charging doesn’t fit their needs. 

We’ve also launched Charge Anywhere. This is our public charging app which enablesEV drivers to access over 34,000 UK public charge points via a single app. This removes complexity for drivers, and avoids the need to have lots of different apps and cards when planning slightly longer distance journeys where you’ll need to top up on the way. Charge Anywhere is available in the OVO Charge app. Itnot only gives users real time availability data, it also includes discounts of up to 15% across the whole population of linked chargers, meaning some drivers could save up to £220 a year. 

Finally, I want to call out our experience and expertise on bidirectional charging, which includes Vehicle to Home (V2H) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G). OVO ran the world's first and largest V2G pilot in 2018 with Nissan, Indra, Cenex and Kaluza and we’ve still got a third of the participants on a live V2G tariff now. On average, our EV drivers are currently earning around £400 a year from V2G.

This expertise has been key to forging partnerships with leading Auto OEM  brands such as the Volkswagen Group. 

#LEVS: With the rapid evolution of EV technology, how is OVO preparing to meet future challenges and opportunities in the electric mobility sector?

#Alex Thwaites: You’re right, technology is advancing and evolving all the time, especially in the EV space with vehicles becoming more intelligent and hardware developing at a rapid pace, but I believe software will be the key. Software not only helps stitch together all of the amazing tech in the hardware, but it’s also how we’ll surface all of this tech to customers, which is critical to the UK moving out of the early adopter stage (1m EV’s on the road today) and into the early majority (5-10m EV’s on the road) phase.

Tech can be complicated and some people can find it a new and daunting thing. I’ll use my mum as an example.  I need to move her away from simply filling up at a petrol station, to potentially having to: charge at home; charge on the public network; pay for her “fuel” as part of her home energy bill; use an app to start charging. 

Software is the key to making this as simple and seamless as possible, with easy to use apps such as Charge Anytime and Charge Anywhere. With these apps, we’ve really focussed on the user experience and simplifying complex actions. For example,  with ourCharge Anywhere app, you simply need to plug your vehicle into a public charger, press start charge on the app and that's it, the software does the hard work in the background and the driver doesn't need to do anything else.

So to go back to your original question of how OVO is preparing for the challenges and opportunities coming up; we are focussing on our people - and having super talented people in the team who can create, design and build amazing products - and on our propositions -  ensuring our customers, who will be using them, are at the heart of everything we do so we can hopefully make their transition out of a fossil fuel vehicle to and EV that little bit easier. 

The other really important point for me is around charging technology standards. Ensuring we have a consistent set of technology standards across Europe such as CCS, Plug and Charge, ISO 15008 -20, which allow industry to work together to make charging simpler and more accessible for consumers, is key to enabling UK drivers to make the switch to EVs. 

#LEVS: What key lessons and best practices have you learned from your extensive experience in the energy efficiency, renewable, and E-mobility industries that can inspire others in the field?

#Alex Thwaites: I think that, regardless of company or sector, my number one priority would always be to focus on the customer. Even when I was involved in schemes with government grants where customers could receive something free of charge, I always found that if you build or design the offering or proposition around the customer, you won’t go far wrong. 

A really close second is to ensure you are surrounded by great people around you. In my experience, having really talented people in and around your team leads to delivering really great results for customers.

Culture is so important; OVO has one of the best cultures I’ve ever experienced and it makes such a difference. Working on really cool stuff with amazing people and having fun while you do so is really inspiring. 

Be nice and take care of people.  Life can chuck some challenging things our way and I always try to be conscious of how I'd want my boss to treat me in any given situation. Work is important, but family comes first and a supportive employer accounts for a lot. 

Do research. I have definitely learnt over the years that what I think a customer wants and what a customer actually wants can be pretty different. So, before you put time and effort into something, do some customer research to validate your thoughts or help you change direction slightly. 

Build for scale. If you want to make a meaningful difference then create big scale opportunities that colleagues will really want to get behind. 

Don’t be afraid to fail. I’ve tried a few things that didn’t work and quite often you learn more from that than you do when something goes right. So be open to taking key learnings on board and moving on to the next great idea. 

Be bold and see what happens. 

#LEVS: In what ways do industry events like the London EV Show support OVO’s mission and help advance your EV initiatives?

#Alex Thwaites: I think industry events have a huge role to play in getting both consumers and industry folk on board with the transition to EVs. 

They provide a good platform for us to meet and network with key stakeholders, including automotive manufacturers, technology providers, policymakers, and other energy companies. These interactions foster collaboration and partnerships that are crucial for advancing EV infrastructure and solutions.

Events also allow us to showcase our latest innovations in EV technology and services. Demonstrating smart charging solutions, flexible home charging, our latest integrations and developments within our public charging products all helps to highlight our innovations and demonstrate our commitment to the EV sector.

Most importantly, however, industry events also allow us to engage directly with real customers who give real feedback. We do lots of research around EV’s, but you can’t beat being in the room with real EV drivers and considerers and hearing first-hand success stories as well as concerns or worries. This insight is vital for helping us ensure our products meet the real needs and demands of our customers.