(Nov 6): The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is at the forefront of the global electric vehicle (EV) revolution. By 2028, Asia is projected to account for 63% of the 115 million new EVs sold worldwide, with EVs making up 39% of all new-car sales in the region. 

This growth necessitates a smarter energy infrastructure, a smart grid that manages power to support the burgeoning EV ecosystem and relies on Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices for monitoring and remote management. 

As the roll-out of EV charge points ramps up across diverse markets in the region, connectivity will provide operators the data needed to understand network load and maintain infrastructure. 

Energy generation, storage and distribution are changing. Fossil fuel use is diminishing; renewable energy solutions are growing. The new energy infrastructure comprises solar and wind farms, battery storage, smart meters, a smart grid and more.

The smart grid is more intelligent than the traditional grid, it can be more dynamically managed to meet power demand as it rises and falls and to distribute energy more efficiently. IoT technology underpins the flexibility of a smart grid, providing data from devices that manage and monitor energy generation, storage and distribution.

EV infrastructure development is a key focus across the region. In Malaysia, the government aims to deploy 10,000 EV charging points by the end of 2025 as part of its Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint. 

Additionally, Vietnamese EV maker VinFast planned to install 100,000 in charging stations in Indonesia, reinforcing the region’s dynamic infrastructure push.

With EV charge points are set to become part of critical national infrastructure, they must be available, operational and, crucially, secure. When customers use them, they need confidence that their data is securely captured and used.

More EVs on the roads will present a load-balancing challenge for energy service providers. 

Monitoring installed charge points enables operators to understand the load they place on the network. The success of this will help ensure that drivers arriving at charge points will be confident they will be working and will provide the level of service they want. Looking ahead, vehicles themselves can also become part of the solution. 

Through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, EVs can supply stored power back into the network, helping to flatten peaks in demand, stabilise renewable generation, and even provide backup power in localised outages. While still in the early stages of roll-out in APAC, V2G highlights how EVs can evolve from being passive loads to active, connected assets within the smart grid. 

By connecting devices, service providers can monitor their operational performance and control these remote assets to determine when EVs are charging, predict busier charging times and schedule charging cycles.

These systems can coordinate with vehicle-to-grid services, enabling stored energy to be put back into the grid and support overall network grid stability. 

EV charge points form part of a transformed energy infrastructure that is more efficient, more sustainable and more resilient. EV charge point monitoring also equips operators with performance data so they can act proactively and swiftly to ensure equipment is kept in good working order. 

The success of this will help ensure that drivers arriving at charge points will be confident they will be working and will provide the level of service they want.

IoT cellular connectivity has a central role to play in ensuring the EV ecosystem runs smoothly — from today’s monitoring and maintenance to tomorrow’s vehicle-to-grid energy services. EV charging networks must be connected for performance monitoring, hardware maintenance and usage management. For this, equipment managers and charge point operators need secure, resilient and reliable connectivity.

This is especially critical in APAC markets undergoing ambitious grid modernisation. For example, Malaysia’s national utility company, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (KL:TENAGA), is investing approximately RM45 billion between 2025 and 2027 in its "Grid of the Future" initiative. The programme will integrate technologies like artificial intelligence and battery energy storage systems to support the influx of EVs and renewable energy sources, highlighting the need for real-time, connected monitoring across the network.

Cellular connectivity meets these needs without the disruption of cabling, supporting scalable deployment across urban and rural areas without communications infrastructure as a limiting factor. A range of cellular technology standards provide flexibility for different speed, latency and other requirements, allowing operators to manage an entire installed base of devices efficiently.

Importantly, connected EV infrastructure must be secure at every stage because any security breach could cause network disruption and data loss, with financial and reputational consequences. In this, there are compliance standards for EV charge points and the central management system.

Security AI and automation needs to play a bigger role in the grid. A few of the more advanced providers offer solutions like secure private networking, build in identity and authentication techniques and automated anomaly detection to help minimise ransomware and cyber-attacks. While people and processes remain one of the biggest security risks, the role played by those kinds of technologies is increasingly critical.

Energy infrastructure is transforming from systems dependent on fossil fuels to cleaner forms of power. A smart grid supports intelligent capacity management and grid balancing for energy generation, distribution and storage. 

Cellular IoT connectivity helps connect, control and secure EV charge points to meet the ever-growing demand of the EV market in APAC, and contribute to a future energy ecosystem that has resilience, sustainability and intelligence built in. 

Syed Natashrul is the head of APAC at Wireless Logic.