'I Think It's Going To Change The Game': ChargePoint's New 'Micro Grid' Technology Could Make Charging Cheaper

ChargePoint's newest platform can support charging at up to 3 megawatts, far exceeding what the most advanced EVs can accept today.

ChargePoint Express Grid

Photo by: ChargePoint

Mack Hogan

By: Mack Hogan

Aug 28, 2025 at 8:30am ET

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ChargePoint has partnered with electrical giant Eaton to offer a new micro-grid charging setup, which it says will make fleet charging equipment cheaper, more efficient and more compact.
By using on-site DC energy from power storage systems or renewables, these chargers can reduce ongoing charging costs by up to 30%.
The technology cuts out the wasteful AC to DC conversion step, while also allowing users to balance demand with electricity prices, the CEO of ChargePoint told InsideEVs.

ChargePoint has long been an electric-vehicle charging hardware heavyweight. From local utilities using ChargePoint Level 2 dispensers on public infrastructure to private fleet owners operating ChargePoint fast-charging units at logistics hubs, the company quietly powers a large number of electrified vehicles. Now, it's aiming to take its operations to the next level, with its new ChargePoint Express Grid.

The new system—with the chargers built by ChargePoint and the "micro grid" built by electrical giant Eaton—allows charge point operators (like Electrify America or Ionna, for instance) or fleet operators to use a direct current (DC) setup for an entire charging system.

DC Microgrids are systems that run entirely on DC voltage, which is what batteries and solar panels use, rather than alternating current, which is what comes out of your household outlets.

Because batteries can only accept DC voltage and the power grid is AC, all DC fast chargers have to convert the AC into DC, and then step up the voltage of the grid DC with a DC-DC converter. Every time you convert energy, you lose some of it as waste heat, so by cutting out the AC-DC conversion, you get a more efficient system.

ChargePoint Protect_CPE250

Existing dispensers don't natively work with micro-grid setups.

Photo by: InsideEVs

The system also still comes with a DC-DC converter, however, allowing operators to mix grid electricity with local battery storage, solar farms or wind turbines. That can be used to optimize costs, charging batteries up while electricity is cheap only to release it when it gets pricy. Despite including this hardware, ChargePoint says the new system can lead to up to 30% space savings compared to existing solutions.

Combined, the benefits of DC microgrid integration with dynamic load balancing will be extremely powerful, ChargePoint CEO Rick Wilmer told InsideEVs in a video interview.

"This is the debut of a new DC charging architecture and a whole product portfolio that branches off from that architecture is pretty game-changing, in terms of reducing [capital expenditures], [operating expenses], the amount of space, the number of pieces of equipment that are required to build out a charging hub," Wilmer said. "I think it's going to change the game."

Because ChargePoint does not operate its own charging stations, it's offering this to commercial clients starting next year. Charging operators or fleets will be able to get a custom solution designed by Eaton, which will actually build the microgrid they need. He noted that ChargePoint quickly learned in the early days that all vehicles are different, and that integrating the charging experience between vehicle and dispenser was crucial.