bloXmove, 50Hertz and the Energy Web Foundation to collaborate

On February 11, 2022, bloXmove’s parent company, Power & Mobility Ltd, officially announced that it was joining the Energy Web Foundation as a full member. On the operational level of the layer-1 blockchain, this means that bloXmove will be part of the consensus-building network of EWF by operating a full validator node.

It also means that bloXmove and EWF share the same vision for a sustainable and emission-free convergence of the power and mobility industries. The bloXmove team in conjunction with the incredible team at EWF has been busy ever since. Today, we are proud to announce the newest fruit from this collaboration, our pilot project to be known as ReBeam!

ABOUT REBEAM

A few months ago, bloXmove presented its trilateral partnership with 50Hertz and the Energy Web Foundation. Together we are working towards creating comprehensive solutions that will usher in a green and sustainable ecosystem for electrically-powered mobility. Part of this endeavour includes coupling, i.e. interconnecting, teh two industrial sectors of Power and Mobility. ReBeam is the first result of our joint effort. The Rebeam protocol is specifically designed to create, operate and monetise decentralised products and services for electric vehicles and charging stations. The first product, which will be launched based on ReBeam is the implementation of decentralised roaming:

EMPS and the aggregator trap

Charging stations are highly decentralised, meaning the market is highly fragmented in that a substantial number of independent charging operators (CPOs) operate charging stations. Because this makes it difficult for customers to use their services EMSPs (Electric Mobility Service Providers) have emerged, who aggregate customers and CPOs. They can thus offer their customers one app by which the customer can use any of the many CPOs under contract with the EMSP.

So far so good.

The customer convenience a roaming aggregator provide comes at the cost of the usual, unhealthy market dynamics involving centralised aggregators: the EMSP takes a part of an already thin profit margin which can be made by providing charging.
This goes directly to the detriment of the CPO who is actually providing the service. On top of that customer relationships — and with that market and negotiating power — end up with the aggregator.

Decentralized platforms offer a fundamental way out of this “aggregator trap”.
ReBeam is designed to make charging stations independent — i.e. decentralized — profit-generating assets which can be rented to deliver power as well as parking space. Technically the application is based on the Open Charging Network (OCN), which is part of the EWF’s infrastructure.

Through ReBeam Charge Point Operators (CPO) can deliver any power company’s electricity to vehicles with no revenue-extracting middleman such as the EMSP.

This is why we call this decentralized roaming: roaming without the roaming costs currently held by the EMSP aggregation players.

The jointly developed technology combines the capabilities of digitally identified customers, companies and intelligent devices which are identified through Digital Identifiers (DIDs) or Self-Sovereign Identities (SSI).

The ReBeam protocol applies DIDs, cryptographic Verified Credentials (VC) and smart contracts to verify, bill and account service delivery and financial liabilities and settlement between the parties involved.

Outlook

• Creating transparency for suppliers to proactively balance their supply portfolios. This ushers in accountability that allows them to purchase energy based on real-time consumption as opposed to relying on standard load profiles.
• In combination with vehicle-to-grid (v2G) technology ReBeam aims to facilitating access to flexible power storage and supply via a “battery-as-a-service” model.

These business models are attractive for Charging Networks (“Power”) “and” Electric Fleets (“Mobility”). bloXmove serves as the financial arbiter, playing a “Transaction-as-a-Service” role to mobility industry businesses and end-users.

A PROUD MILESTONE

As we continue our unrelenting efforts towards growth this year, on-ground execution is a critical marker that helps us measure our level of progress overall as a project. The entire bloXmove team is very proud to deliver ReBeam and remains confident that with partners like Energy Web and 50Hertz, the future is closer than we all think for a hyper-efficient and wholly-green power and mobility reality. We would like to thank our partners for their efforts in bringing this solution to life, and hope to unlock more possibilities with them and create even more groundbreaking solutions together in the times ahead.

FURTHER LINKS:

Elia Group — REBEAM PROTOCOL ALLOWS EV DRIVERS TO CHOOSE THEIR ENERGY RETAILER AT PUBLIC CHARGING STATIONS