And where a well-meant incentive even has the opposite effect. A look at real Swiss studies instead of marketing promises.
"Smart charging" is not a uniform term. It is worth keeping three concepts apart:
As becomes clear below, this distinction is exactly what matters, because not all three have the same effect, and one of them can even harm the grid instead of helping it.
The distribution grid study by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) (2022) works through a worst-case scenario: if on a cold winter evening all heat pumps run at the same time (estimated 5.6 GW) and in addition just 10% of the 3.6 million electric cars expected in future charge at the same time, the result is an additional load of 9.6 GW, roughly as much as Switzerland's entire peak load in 2020 at the same time, on top. Depending on charging behaviour, the study puts the grid expansion needed because of the energy transition and e-mobility combined at between CHF 12 and 66 billion, with CHF 30 billion as the base scenario.
The really interesting finding of the SFOE study: genuine grid-oriented charging (which takes the actual grid situation into account) reduces the required grid expansion by around CHF 8 billion. Pure charging according to a cheap market tariff, with no connection to the grid situation, on the other hand increases the expansion requirement by a further CHF 33 billion, because many households start charging at the same time as soon as the tariff becomes cheap. The study calls this an overcoordination effect: the price incentive coordinates too well, everyone reacts at the same time, and many small loads turn into a new, large peak. A Europe-wide study by Fraunhofer ISE and ISI (not specific to Switzerland) independently confirms this pattern: unidirectional charging based on a pure end-customer tariff has "only marginally positive effects" on grid load peaks, and the main benefit lies more in better PV integration.
In other words: an app that simply tells you "charge at night when electricity is cheaper" can even make the problem worse locally instead of solving it. What matters is whether the control takes the actual, local grid situation into account, not just a flat price.
In the pilot project MESH4U (EPFL, with Romande Energie and Gotthard FASTcharge, supported by the SFOE), a fast-charging station with battery storage and a PV system on the EPFL campus was controlled in real time. Result: the unplanned daily grid load could be reduced by a factor of ten compared with an uncontrolled system. In a survey of users, a clear majority were also willing to extend their own charging session by a few minutes for grid-friendly operation, one third of them even without financial compensation.
How much of your own solar power can actually be used for charging was measured by a study by ETH Zurich (Prof. Martin Raubal) with 78 electric car users over 10 months:
We have not found a Switzerland-wide quantified study on how much solar surplus charging in particular reduces the midday feed-in peak into the public grid, and we would rather name this gap openly here than invent a figure.
Besides MESH4U there was the V2X Suisse project (2022–2024): 50 bidirectionally chargeable Honda e in real car-sharing operation by Mobility, at 40 locations, with Honda, sun2wheel, EVTEC, the aggregator tiko and scientific support from ETH Zurich. Result according to the partners involved: V2H/V2G works technically, "an economically viable operation for a car-sharing company does not currently pay off". Currently (since January 2026) the EKZ Smart Charging pilot project is also running with around 500 participants, with results still to come. CKW also offers grid-friendly charging, which provides ancillary services for Swissgrid.
From 2026, grid operators may offer dynamic grid tariffs as an option, intended to set targeted incentives for grid-friendly behaviour, although an alternative without a dynamic component must always be offered. Here too the distinction from above matters: a "dynamic energy tariff" alone (a pure price incentive) is not the same as a "dynamic grid tariff" (which actually responds to the grid situation), and only the latter reliably fulfils its promise according to the SFOE study.
You can find more on the technical and pricing basics in our articles on bidirectional charging and comparing charging costs.
As of: October 2026. Sources: SFOE distribution grid study 2022 (cited in BKW, "Die Energiezukunft im Stromnetz"), MESH4U final report (SFOE/EPFL), ETH Zurich (Raubal et al., 2022), V2X Suisse (Mobility/ETH Zurich), Fraunhofer ISE/ISI (EU study, not specific to Switzerland). Some internationally cited percentages could not be verified in the primary source and were therefore deliberately left out.
