U.S. power grid disruption from electric vehicle (EV) charging has long been a hot-button issue for proponents of hybrid and gasoline-powered cars. This concern has only elevated as adoption of battery-electric cars, trucks and SUVs grows.In a 2024 published essay documenting his research, Rabobank's energy transition specialist Amit Mathrani said that, "The rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the US could add between 100TWh and 185TWh to national electricity demand by 2030, representing between 2.5 percent to 4.6 percent of anticipated total consumption."New York's Long Island is taking steps to avoid brownouts and blackouts that could be caused by an influx of EV charging."PSEG Long Island, like many utilities across the country, has seen growing EV adoption in its service territory over the past few years. EV charging can pose unique challenges to a power utility because it tends to be clustered in specific hotspots, such as a public charging station or a residential street in an affluent area. This means that multiple EVs may be drawing power from a very specific part of the grid infrastructure simultaneously, which can cause blackouts, brownouts, or other service disruptions," Joseph Vellone, CEO of ChargeScape, told Newsweek.The utility company has partnered with ChargeScape, a joint venture between BMW, Honda, Ford and Nissan, to "leverage the tens of thousands of EVs across Long Island as an asset for the power grid, rather than accept them as a potential liability," Vellone said.ChargeScape's app pays EV drivers who have flexibility in charging to charge their vehicles at a time that optimizes power load on the grid to maintain reliability and avoid service disruptions. In exchange for their flexibility, customers receive cash payment, payable directly to their Venmo or PayPal accounts.The artificial intelligence-powered app originally was only offered to those driving BMW and Ford EVs, but is expanding to other customers this summer.Long Island isn't the only place ChargeSpace's algorithms are in use. "ChargeScape delivers similar services to some of the country's largest power utilities, including Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, Puget Sound Energy, Xcel Energy, DTE Energy, and Eversource Energy," Vellone said.How does the ChargeSpace app work?Integration between the ChargeSpace app, home, vehicle and automaker app is intended to be seamless. When at home, an EV driver plugs in their vehicle, opens the automaker's app (which they already use to manage their vehicle) and sets a departure time and battery level for the vehicle.Based on those parameters, ChargeScape uses its computing to obtain real-time grid conditions and forecasts to calculate a grid-optimal charging schedule. When the driver is ready to go, they can rest assured that their vehicle is charged to those specifications and get paid for the ease.Vellone encourages EV owners who use the app to "set it and forget it" while they reap the cash rewards.