ELECTRIC Vehicles are what everyone is talking about, as is the infrastructure required to make them a viable proposition.

Helping to build this infrastructure is Ohme, a smart charging hardware and software manufacturer, and winner of the Best Electric Charge Point Provider category in the 2022 Business Motoring Awards.

What the judges liked was the fact that Ohme’s devices simplify the charging experience for the customer, and reduce the c02 and cost of the charge – they are the cheapest and most sustainable way to charge a vehicle.

The company launched its new Home Pro in September 2021, and has seen a four fold increase in demand, winning some major fleets and leasing providers such as Motability, Zenith, Fleet Operations, Octopus Electric Vehicles, and Synergy Leasing.

At a simple level – The Ohme Home Pro is a discrete and compact tethered charger with in-built load balancing and PEN fault detection for quick and easy installation. It is the smallest smart tethered charger with an LED screen available, and at limited cost premium versus others with less functionality.

Home Pro is able to API directly into many vehicles to gain state of charge, and includes demand-side response services, communicating with the grid. It is the first charger to be integrating with the new dynamic tariffs from Ovo and Octopus, enabling the customer to save up to 70% of the CO vs charging at peak time, and also up to 70% of the cost when twinned with a smart tariff.

Ohme also makes a cable solution that works as a cost effective mobile solution for fleets – making a standard charger smart, or enabling smart charging through a commando socket. The unique benefit for the SME user is the ability to report on the energy consumption and associated costs through a fleet management portal, and to reimburse drivers through the portal.

The company said it works directly with fleets, and also has a number of relationships with organisations that support the fleet buying process. Solution is tailored depending on the customer type in order to:

• Operate through a preferred installer partner if one exists for the customer, or provider its installer.
• Receive demand and individually quote or operate a fixed price process.
• Enable the driver/fleet to optimise  C02 and energy costs.
• Automatically reduce the CO2 by delaying the charge of the vehicle to when is best for the grid.
• Enable fleets to track their energy expenses and associated C02. This can be through a data stream that integrates with major Fleet data providers such as TMC, or it can be taken in the form of a fleet management platform.
• Enables SMEs to reimburse drivers for energy use, it also allows them to scrutinise C02 and energy cost.