Menevä charges its electric taxis cheaper with stored energy

Menevä uses battery energy storage to charge its fleet at a lower cost.

Taxi service Menevä has invested notably in electrification of its fleet and its charging hub. With volatile electricity prices, it makes sense to charge vehicles when electricity is cheapest. Since partnering with Cactos, Menevä can store energy during low-cost hours and charge its taxis anytime.

Summary

Customer: Menevä Oy
Industry: Taxi service
Transformer: 800 kVA
Charging hub: Kempower fast charging station with 600 kW total power and 8 charging points, Ensto 10 x 22 kW AC charging points
Installed solution: 1 x Cactos Yavia (430 kWh / 184 kW)

Benefits of Cactos

Lower demand charges thanks to peak shaving

Shifting load to cheaper hours

Revenue from ancillary service markets

Taxi rides from Southern Finland to Lapland

Family-owned Menevä Oy is a Finnish nationwide taxi service that has focused on electrifying its fleet, especially in the Helsinki metropolitan area. With its charging hub near Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Menevä keeps its electric taxis running across the Uusimaa region.

Managing electricity price spikes

Menevä has always charged its electric taxis using spot-priced electricity. However, prices fluctuate heavily, and it hasn’t always been easy to time charging for the best rates. Investing in a battery energy storage system changed the game.

“With Cactos, we can shift our electricity consumption—storing energy during cheap hours and discharging it into the taxis when prices are high.”, says Antti Lankila, the IT Director at Menevä.

A smart investment

Partnering with Cactos has been effortless for Menevä. The Cactos leasing model allowed them to get started without a large upfront investment. During implementation, support was readily available, and Menevä also praises the clear documentation.
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"I use the Cactos Spine interface daily to track our ancillary service market revenue and monitor how our grid connection is working.", Lankila mentions.

The results

By leveraging Cactos' battery energy storage system, Menevä has successfully shifted its energy consumption to lower-cost hours. This enables the lowest possible charging costs for their electric taxis, regardless of the time of day. Additionally, revenue from ancillary service markets has made the investment even more worthwhile, paving the way for potential future expansions.

"Even after just a few months, we’ve already seen both savings from load shifting and revenue from ancillary service markets." , says Lankila.

Lower peak demand charges

Less energy is needed from the grid during peak demand as Cactos supports the load.

Load shifting to cheaper hours

By storing electricity when it’s affordable, Menevä charges its taxis at a lower cost.

Revenue from ancillary service markets

The battery storage system pays for itself by participating in ancillary service markets.

"Being part of Finnish society is important to Menevä. With the Cactos battery energy storage system, we can do our part to support the national electricity grid."

Antti Lankila, IT Director, Menevä

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