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Mainz, June 2024

Savings of €700 per vehicle: Companies reduce mobility costs with AI-based PV charging

• LADE optimizes costs fully automatically with PV-maximized charging
• Interactive calculator shows savings potential
• Experience the world’s first platform for charging infrastructure and AI energy management at The Smarter E trade fair

There is no cheaper way to charge electric vehicles than with self-generated solar power. With PV-maximized charging, which is part of LADEgreen, the first and so far only integrated AI platform for charging infrastructure and energy management, the Mainz-based company LADE ensures that businesses can make particularly efficient use of this energy source. This enables lower costs for e-mobility and attractive profit margins when selling charging electricity.

With PV-maximized charging, companies with an e-car fleet of 15 vehicles, for example, save more than 10,000 euros per year. PV-maximized charging is part of the LADEgreen AI platform, which controls the LADE hardware products. At The Smarter E trade fair in Munich, LADE will be presenting the system at the innovation stand (booth C5.274C) sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs.

New benchmark for PV charging

The AI-based system automatically maximizes the proportion of cheap green electricity from own PV systems when charging. Using AI-based forecasts on demand and availability, charging processes are planned individually and controlled in such a way that as much cheap PV electricity as possible is used. Unlike conventional PV surplus charging, the required amount of energy is guaranteed to be charged into the vehicle.

Dennis Schulmeyer, founder and Managing Director of LADE: “Unfortunately, anyone who wants to charge their vehicle with low-cost excess PV power has quickly reached their limits. If there is no surplus, or if several people have to coordinate with each other, it quickly becomes complex, especially in companies or apartment buildings. With PV-maximized charging, we solve precisely this problem. With our AI platform, we automatically maximize the proportion of cheap green electricity and at the same time ensure that enough energy reaches the vehicle.”

Online calculator shows savings potential

The production costs of electricity from a company’s own PV systems are generally significantly lower than the costs of electricity from the grid. Due to the complex management, it was previously almost impossible to use this inexpensive energy source for charging electric cars, especially in the corporate context or in apartment buildings.

The savings potential of the new charging mode for specific locations can be determined with the help of a free online tool at www.lade.de/benefits. Here, factors such as the number of charging stations, the power of the PV system and vehicle dwell times can be adjusted.

Savings of more than €10,000 per year

For a company with 15 charging vehicles per day, the tool calculates a potential saving of €10,511 and a saving of 16.29 tons of CO2. The calculation is based on a PV system with an output of 85 kWp, 5 kWp electricity consumption by other consumers, an electricity price of 35 cents and PV generation costs of 7 cents per kWh. In the example, the vehicles are parked Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and charge an average of 15 kWh per day.

Mainz, February 7, 2024

Energy transition startup LADE presents the world’s first AI-supported platform for energy and charging management

• “LADEgreen” solves the bottlenecks of the energy transition with the help of AI
• First AI charging park in Mainz in operation

The energy transition start-up LADE from Mainz has presented LADEgreen, an AI platform that sets new standards in the field of energy management. LADEgreen is currently the only system on the market that forecasts the demand for and availability of renewable energy up to five days in advance, for example for charging electric vehicles.

The system enables companies, coworking spaces and apartment buildings, for example, to use cheap green electricity exactly when it is available. Based on the users’ individual needs, LADEgreen automatically optimizes consumption, both in terms of local generation and green electricity from the grid.

Energy transition only with artificial intelligence

The energy transition requires a new way of thinking about when and how energy is consumed, says Dennis Schulmeyer, the founder of LADE. For example, electricity should be generated where it is needed; at the same time, availability of sun and wind must be taken into account. AI should help with this.

“Energy management in such a system is so complex that it can’t really be managed by humans,” explains Dennis Schulmeyer. “We’re talking about millions of electric cars, heat pumps, solar systems and battery storage systems. And behind that are the individual needs of all the people who want to use, operate and maintain this infrastructure. The AI brings all the factors together and creates an individual plan for when it is best to charge the vehicle in order to use as much green electricity as possible. If everything fits, users don’t need to do anything else. And if something changes, the charging plan can be adjusted in the app at any time.”

First AI-based charging park in Mainz

In January 2024, the startup put the city’s largest charging park for electric cars into operation at the “Alte Fahrkartendruckerei” coworking space in Mainz, with 36 charging points. The charging processes are controlled by the LADEgreen platform, which automatically adjusts the power requirements of the charging points to the electricity available on site. The energy from the city’s own 85-kWp solar system can thus be used particularly efficiently, which is both cheaper and reduces the amount of grey electricity purchased from the grid.

Dennis Schulmeyer is delighted with the world premiere: “This is the first time a charging park of this size has been optimized by artificial intelligence. Our AI platform distributes the available energy so efficiently that we didn’t even have to extend the grid connection for the implementation. For such a number of charging points, the installation effort was very well manageable.”

More public charging points for Mainz

The Mainz office building complex not only offers charging points for its own tenants, but also for public charging, for example for employees of other companies during their working hours. Michael Gebhard, owner of the Alte Fahrkartendruckerei and operator of the charging park, spent a long time looking for a suitable solution before finally deciding on LADE:

“It was important to me that not only my tenants have the opportunity to charge their electric cars without much effort, but that I can also offer public charging at the same time. This works very well with the charging solutions from LADE. The software controls the charging processes fully automatically and billing is also very easy for me as the operator.”

The technology behind LADEgreen

With LADEgreen, the energy transition start-up LADE has developed a platform that connects the players and technical elements of a sustainable energy system and thus promotes the use of electricity from renewable sources. At its core, the technology consists of an AI-based cloud platform and the LADEgenius hardware controller. Connections to other systems can be established via interfaces.

The LADE AI team currently consists of eight people, some of whom develop the self-learning systems in Mainz and others internationally. The company wants to use the technology to make the use of green electricity as easy as possible, Dennis Schulmeyer emphasizes:

“With LADEgreen, everyone can help to reduce CO2 emissions and consumption of gray electricity from the grid by improving their use of self-generated solar power. At the same time, they even help to stabilize the grids, which also advances the energy transition as a whole. And, of course, we are also prepared for applications such as bidirectional charging and vehicle-to-grid.”

Mainz, December 29, 2021

Innovative charging system: LADE closes seven-figure seed investment

E-mobility startup LADE has successfully closed a seven-figure seed financing. The freshly gained capital will ensure further growth for the Mainz-based company and enable it to enter the market for charging infrastructure in the coming year.

LADE GmbH, founded in 2020, is developing an innovative complete system consisting of charging hardware, an operator backend and a smartphone app for using charging points. The proof of concept of the “LADEsäule” charging pole, the company’s first hardware product, is planned for spring 2022.

Dennis Schulmeyer, founder and CEO of LADE, comments: “For e-mobility to work, we need more and better charging infrastructure. We have the solution – and now we also have the financial means to bring it to market. At the same time, this investment represents enormous trust in our vision and our technology. With that much positive energy, we are off to a great start into the new year.”

Mainz, November 29, 2021

LADE honored for best business idea

Charging infrastructure startup receives special prize from Business Angels Rheinland-Pfalz in Pioniergeist start-up competition

Start-up LADE was awarded the special prize of the Business Angels Rheinland-Pfalz for best start-up idea in the Pioniergeist start-up competition. Founder and CEO Dennis Schulmeyer received the award last week from Klaus Wächter, Chairman of the Business Angels. The Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Economic Affairs, Daniela Schmitt, was present as well, getting a first-hand impression of the award winners’ innovative strength.

“Electromobility will change the mobility of the future, and the Mainz-based start-up LADE will be an important part of this new era,” said Wächter at the award ceremony in Mainz.

Dennis Schulmeyer: “In order to have a successful transformation of traffic, charging infrastructure must be available nationwide, and it must work easily. This is exactly what we enable with our innovative hardware. At the same time, we simplify the expansion of renewable energies so that e-mobility can fully develop its potential for climate protection. My team and I are doing everything we can to make it happen as quickly as possible. This award is a great motivation and confirms that we are on the right track.”

The start-up competition Pioniergeist is organised by development bank Investitions- und Strukturbank Rheinland-Pfalz together with Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken in Rhineland-Palatinate and public broadcaster SWR. The award honors companies that set an example with excellent business concepts.

Download: 11/29/2021 LADE awarded for best business idea (German PDF)

Mainz / Munich, October 5, 2021

Bidirectional charging for climate neutrality: Startup LADE presents comprehensive solution for transformation of transport and energy sectors

Scalable system for operation and use of charging infrastructure – Efficient real-time load management – Company present at trade fair Power2Drive

Startup LADE will present its comprehensive BEV charging solution for the first time from October 6 to 8, 2021 at e-mobility trade fair Power2Drive in Munich. The scalable, sustainable and comprehensive system combines electronics, smart IT, cloud software and mobile apps; it covers all aspects of charging infrastructure, from installation to commercial operation and use.

With the Mainz-based company’s solution, charging infrastructure for e-cars can be installed faster and operated more cost-efficiently than with other systems available on the market. The goal is to ensure large-scale coverage as quickly as possible. In order to fully make use of the strengths of e-mobility regarding climate protection, the system was designed for efficient sector coupling with renewable energy sources from the outset. Ease of use and intuitive operation were also key criteria in the development.

Highly efficient load balancing for grid-serving operations

One of the key technologies is the LADE Zero-Gap load balancing system (patent-pending). According to the individual needs of operators and users, the system will optimise the charging power of charging points dynamically, phase-individually and in near real-time. Compared to other load balancing systems, this also applies to comprehensive charging parks with several hundred charging points.

Zero-Gap makes the LADE system scalable at the hardware level, offering significant cost advantages during installation. At the same time, the available energy is utilised particularly efficiently. If additional dynamics are added by renewable energy sources, the system plays to its strengths: Thanks to precise and fast control, LADE technology reduces the gap between the currently available power and the charging current used to a minimum (“Zero-Gap”).

Grid-supporting as well as bidirectional charging for effective climate protection

This technology alone makes the LADE system particularly grid-supporting, in that charging infrastructure can be used to stabilise power grids. Bidirectional charging further increases this potential. LADE supports the ISO 15118 standard including Plug&Charge from the very beginning. Should future standards for bidirectional charging require a change to the hardware, retrofitting the modularly designed LADE points is simple and inexpensive.

“E-mobility is not only key for the transformation of traffic, but also for CO2-free power generation,” says founder and CEO Dennis Schulmeyer, explaining the vision behind the business idea. “If we want to cover our electricity largely with renewable sources by 2030, we need to lay the foundation today. BEV are the ideal and most economical means to do this. Together, they form a huge, distributed buffer store that needs to be developed intelligently. Our charging solution has been designed with this in mind from the outset. It makes charging efficient and convenient today and helps us decarbonise power generation tomorrow.”

At the Munich exhibition center, LADE will be present in Hall B5 (booth number 280D), where the system will be demonstrated using a design prototype. A proof-of-concept will be presented in the fall. Interested parties can register for the event at presse@lade.de.

Download: 05.11.2021 Startup LADE presents system solution for the transport and energy transition (German PDF)