EV maker Rivian is forming partnerships right and left—including two new initiatives announced Thursday at Tech Brew’s Power Shift event in New York City.
Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s chief software officer, announced two separate efforts aimed at making EV charging easier for Rivian drivers: Rivian is joining the automaker-backed EV charging network IONNA, and the EV maker will roll out a smart charging program later this summer.
IONNA—in which BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Toyota are all involved—is in the process of establishing a fast-charging network across the US.
“We continue to invest in the Rivian charging network and provide that seamless experience to our customers,” Bensaid said. “But then in parallel…we are big believers in a seamless, open ecosystem. And we want to provide choice and options for our customers.”
He noted, for example, Rivian drivers’ ability to use the Tesla Supercharger network and access features like “plug and charge” capabilities.
“We continue to do that with other players in the ecosystem,” Bensaid said.
The IONNA partnership, he said, “will follow a similar approach to what we did with the Tesla team, which is offer that seamless digital experience from the vehicle, so that you have access to live data, you have access to plug and charge…A great charging experience should be that customers don’t need to think about it—it just works.”
While such initiatives are aimed at improving the public fast-charging experience for customers, Bensaid pointed to Rivian fleet data that indicates some 75% of charging is done at home. To that end, the EV maker is partnering with companies like WeaveGrid on smart charging.
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WeaveGrid is an EV charging software startup backed by Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia. It provides software solutions to utilities to help them integrate EVs with electric grids.
Technologies like vehicle-to-grid integration allow EVs to send power back to the grid during times of high demand, which can help prevent blackouts, prioritize the use of renewables, and bring financial benefits for users.
“What we should improve first is the charging experience at home. And among those 75% [of customers], 74% of the charging does not happen at the right time,” Bensaid said. “Meaning that customers have the possibility to access better pricing and have less impact on the grid and on the environment, if we help them optimize the charging scale.”
Simulations Rivian conducted with its existing customer base suggested that, if all Rivian customers opted in, they’d save 30% on their home charging costs and reduce carbon emissions from home charging by 28%, according to Bensaid.
“That’s massive,” he said. “Imagine the opportunity of such solutions in terms of really helping us all move toward a more sustainable ecosystem.”
Rivian will aim to make smart charging “as easy as possible” for its customers, Bensaid added.
“The way we’re thinking about the future is you just have one step of configuration through the mobile app,” he explained. “With one click, we’ll automatically recommend your local utility provider, the best tariff schedule for you, and then everything will happen behind the scenes. The app will even sync through the cloud with our in-vehicle software solution. And then the vehicle will adjust the schedule to have access to the best tariff.”