Indra published details of its smart charging range on 10 February 2022, announcing the Smart Pioneer vehicle-to-grid (V1G) product alongside the existing Smart PRO charger. The Malvern-based maker said Smart Pioneer is the first commercially available V1G product that rewards customers for being flexible about when they charge at home1.
The company said Smart Pioneer can shift up to 80% of energy use to off-peak tariffs, cut customer carbon emissions by an average of 20% and save up to £200 each year. Rewards are redeemable against member partnerships through Indra's energy partner app from ev.energy1.
Smart PRO features include smart scheduling, house-fuse protection, solar panel integration and advanced safety features, with continuous over-the-air updates1. Indra said all its chargers use its proprietary and patented PESTs technology, and that a five-year warranty is included1. The company states that all its products are designed, engineered and built in Britain1.
"It is the world's first commercially available V1G product that rewards customers for being flexible with when they charge their EV at home"
Indra said it developed the world's first fully certified V2G product in 2018, and that its chargers are now installed in thousands of homes and commercial spaces across the UK, with recent introduction in Australia1. Founded in 2013, the company describes itself as pioneering technology to make energy smarter1.
Why it matters for households
Smart charging and flexibility services are the mechanisms by which a home with an electric vehicle can move its charging load away from peak hours, when electricity is most expensive and the grid is most carbon-intensive. Indra's claim of shifting up to 80% of energy use to off-peak tariffs is a statement about how much of a household's charging demand can be timed rather than run on demand1. The £200 annual saving figure is Indra's own and is not broken down by tariff, mileage or region in the announcement1.
V1G describes one-way smart charging, where the charger controls when power flows into the vehicle but does not send power back to the home or grid. This differs from bidirectional charging, where a vehicle can discharge to a home or the grid. Indra's V2G certification claim relates to that separate capability1. Households weighing the two approaches may find the distinction relevant to what a charger can actually do in a home.
The five-year warranty and the PESTs safety technology are product-level claims made by the maker. No independent verification of the savings, carbon reduction or flexibility figures appears in the announcement1.
What happens next
No dates, availability windows or pricing for Smart Pioneer are given in the announcement1.