How the Renault 5 and V2G Are Forcing Utilities and Telcos to Rethink Growth

Telecoms were the extroverts: agile, digitally savvy, obsessed with churn rates and streaming partnerships. Utilities were the quiet backbone: reliable, indispensable, but rarely seen as exciting. One ran on towers and gigabytes. The other flowed through pipes, wires, and kilowatt-hours. No one expected them to swap shoes.

And yet, the more you look, the more obvious it becomes: they were always part of the same family.

Because behind the branding and the networks, both follow the same story: a customer picks an offer, consumes a measurable service, and receives a bill. What they consume, data or energy, is, in digital terms, just another unit. A kilo-something.

This revelation isn’t just theoretical. It’s shaping the market right now.

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A revolution quietly began with a car

It happened in Europe, in a place where you wouldn’t expect a billing revolution to start: a car factory.

Renault, long known for its mass-market hatchbacks, introduced a new EV, the Renault 5 E-Tech Electric, and decided it wouldn’t just drive you home. It would power your home. Or even sell energy back to the grid. The car became an asset in the energy economy.

But as Renault worked to bring this “vehicle-to-grid” (V2G) vision to life with The Mobility House, they hit a wall. Traditional utility systems weren’t built for this kind of complexity: dynamic pricing, two-way flows, real-time billing, customer bonuses. So Renault made a bold move, they effectively entered the energy sector in France through its subsidiary, Mobilize. 

Yes, a car manufacturer became a utility. And not as an experiment, as a business model, becoming an active participant in the energy market.

The Renault 5 E-Tech Electric project is the first operational V2G offer in Europe, and it’s already reshaping the playbook for both industries while inspiring similar stories beyond France.

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Meanwhile, On the Other Side of the Fence…

Telcos are struggling. The smartphone gold rush is over. ARPU is flat or falling. 5G didn’t bring the revenue uplift many hoped for. Streaming bundles can only go so far. And most operators are now watching their margins shrink while their IT legacy systems groan under the weight of complexity and cost.

They know they need change. They talk about transformation at every keynote. But when it’s time to act, they hesitate. Legacy stacks, risk-averse leadership, and the perennial "we’ll just upgrade our legacy BSS one more time" mindset holds them back.

Utilities, however, are moving.

Because they have no choice.

Regulations demand change. Climate pressure demands flexibility. And customers, for the first time, are paying attention to their energy plans the way they used to scrutinize their mobile contracts. Do I want a flat rate? A time-of-use plan? Can I sell my solar power during peak hours?

The smart meter revolution is generating data, granular, dynamic, and actionable, and new players are stepping in to monetise that opportunity. Not ten years from now. Today.

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Telcos and Utilities: Not Just Converging. Colliding.

What began as quiet crossover is becoming a collision course. In the Nordics, utilities have started offering mobile services. In Germany, telcos are experimenting with selling electricity. In Portugal, operators are exploring bundled broadband-and-energy packages.

In April 2024, Fastweb, a leading Italian telecom operator, launched Fastweb Energia, marking its entry into the electricity market, offering fixed-rate plans tailored to different consumption and including 100% renewable energy.

It turns out both industries are staring at the same problem from opposite sides: saturated markets. Everyone who wants a phone has one. Everyone who needs electricity already pays for it. There is no growth left in the core, unless you start selling each other’s services.

But this convergence isn’t just about survival. It’s a new opportunity for value.

Telcos have the infrastructure, the customer touchpoints, and the data. Utilities have urgency, market momentum, and a real reason to change. Together, they can offer experiences customers haven’t even imagined yet, from real-time energy dashboards on mobile apps, to loyalty programs that reward low carbon usage with extra data, to households that earnmoney while they sleep, simply by timing their EV charging intelligently.

This is no longer a pitch deck fantasy. It’s already underway, with triPica billing platform built for telcos and utilities at the heart of it.

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Innovation at the Edge (Then Back to the Core)

The blueprint is emerging. Start with a digital-first side project, separate from the mothership. Build it on a flexible, modern platform. Prove that it works. And then bring it home, to scale.

That’s what happened in Malaysia, where a bold operator launched Yoodo, a fully digital mobile brand on triPica’s stack. It grew, customers loved it, and now it’s being reabsorbed as a major innovation engine within the parent brand. Not as an experiment, but as strategy.

The message is clear: don’t fix the old stack. Build a new one alongside it. Let it grow. Then make it the centrepiece.

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The Hub Battle Has Begun

Across industries, everyone wants to be the hub of the consumer's digital life. Telcos. Utilities. OTT platforms. Even the car in your garage.

But customers don’t want five hubs. They want one. One place to manage their connectivity, their energy, their entertainment. One trusted brand that simplifies their life, not complicates it.

And the winner? It will be the brand that’s already in the home, in the pocket, on the wall, on the app.

That could still be the telco. It could just as easily be the energy provider. Or maybe... it’ll be Renault.

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The next chapter is already being written

Telcos need to move. Utilities already are. The playbook for growth isn’t about more gigabytes or cheaper minutes. It’s about embracing the energy transition, enabling digital lifestyles, and rethinking what you sell.

The convergence isn’t coming. It’s here.

And those who recognise their long-lost cousins across the table, and start building together, will be the ones shaping the future.