In one neighborhood studied by researchers, more than 94 percent of electric vehicle charging sessions were completed without overloading any transformers — and all it took was a smarter approach to when those cars charged. That striking finding comes from a collaboration between the National Laboratory of the Rockies and Xcel Energy, one of the largest utility companies in the United States, serving over 3.7 million electric customers across eight states including Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, and New Mexico.
The partnership grew from a practical problem. As more customers bought electric vehicles, Xcel Energy noticed increasing pressure on the power grid — the system of lines and equipment that delivers electricity from power plants to homes and businesses. Traditionally, when demand rises, utilities have spent years and enormous sums of money upgrading that infrastructure. But researchers working with Xcel Energy wondered: instead of building more, could they simply charge vehicles at smarter times?
The answer appears to be yes. Researchers developed a free, open-source tool called EVI-DiST — short for the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Distribution System Integration Tool. The software lets any utility analyze its local grid and test different ways to manage electricity demand, such as encouraging customers to charge overnight when fewer people are using power overall. Think of it like shifting morning rush hour traffic to different departure times to avoid congestion — except here, the grid itself does the adjusting.
"We worked to understand how utilities can most cost-effectively navigate the distributed, mobile, and flexible nature of charging vehicles," said John Kisacikoglu, a senior researcher at the National Laboratory of the Rockies who led the project. Working directly with Xcel Energy helped the team design solutions that fit real-world utility needs rather than theoretical ideals.
The approach, known as smart energy management, offers several advantages beyond just handling vehicle charging. Because the tool is free and open-source, any utility across the country — or the world — can download and adapt it to their own grid. The researchers designed it to work not only for electric vehicles but also for other home and business equipment that generates or stores electricity, such as solar panels or home batteries.
For everyday customers, the benefit could translate into lower electricity bills. When utilities avoid costly infrastructure upgrades, those savings can flow back to ratepayers. The tool also helps prevent power outages caused by overloaded transformers — the box-like equipment that steps down voltage for individual neighborhoods. With smarter planning, utilities can keep the lights on while spending less money doing it.
As electricity demand continues growing — driven by data centers, artificial intelligence, and the accelerating shift to electric vehicles — tools like EVI-DiST point toward a future where the power grid bends rather than breaks under pressure.