EV charging company Ohme has reported that its Crowdflex energy trials have been successful but are urging the Government to use more “joined up” thinking.

Crowdflex was the UK’s largest home energy flexibility trial running from May 2024 until September 2025 and was a study into how households can help increase flexibility in the electricity grid by shifting when energy is used.

David Watson, Ohme CEO is, however, believes the Government, which might be a little distracted just now, needs to do more: “To move this knowledge on from trial to reality, we need more coordination across the Government and energy industry to give greater value and more rewards to our customers for the full system value that their home EV chargers can offer.

Led by National Electricity System Operator (NESO) for Great Britain, the Crowdflex trials encouraged participating drivers to plug in their EVs whenever they were parked at home to earn rewards. Plugging-in more frequently and for longer, gave Ohme more time to intelligently manage customer charging. Such optimisation enables better provision for the grid, helping the electricity system to meet peak demand and making the most of renewable energy when it is available.

During the trials, Ohme saw plug-in rates rise by 40 per cent compared with a control group, showing that effective engagement can change driver habits.

“The Crowdflex energy trials have shown that companies like Ohme can play a crucial role in domestic flexibility by engaging customers and helping to save consumers more than £470m per year in energy costs by 2036,” said Watson.

Over 13 months of trials within the time period of Crowdflex, Ohme participated in more than 400 flexibility events, where Ohme’s chargers were either turned up or turned down, depending on what the electricity grid required. At its peak, Ohme scaled up to 20,000 customers per trial, flexing almost 150MW of electricity.

Crowdflex was awarded funding through Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund, which is managed in partnership with Innovate UK. The project is being delivered by a consortium of partners: Ohme, OVO, Centre for Net Zero, ERM, AWS, National Grid Electricity Distribution and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

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