Electric vehicles are growing fast, but the energy systems behind them are not. Most buildings and transformers were not designed to handle hundreds of cars charging at once. For Worapoj Chosen, founder and CEO of Chosen Digital, this is a serious risk that no one is fixing.
“In Thailand only 500,000 transformers need to be replaced and a huge investment like 15 billion US dollars,” said Worapoj Chosen. “And this is not only Thailand problem it’s a global problem because 20% gap is a global standard.”
When too much electricity flows through an old system, the transformer can’t handle the energy load and may catch fire. As EV charging increases, incidents like this are becoming more common and harder to ignore.
hosen Digital connects EV chargers, buildings, and public utilities to manage electricity use in real time. “If we not do anything it will be overloaded and will be blackout everywhere,” Worapoj Chosen warned.
From IT Engineer to Energy Optimizer
Worapoj Chosen studied computer science at Assumption University in Thailand. He started his first company at 25. That business, Chosen Technology, focused on software and industrial inspection.
His interest in energy came later, after seeing the impact of electric vehicles on infrastructure. “Everyone is focused on adding more EVs and more charging stations,” he said. “But the bigger issue is that the energy system behind it is still fragmented and can’t be managed properly.”
He noticed no one was trying to manage the whole system. “This is a big and global problem, but there are very few solutions,” Worapoj Chosen explained. “Almost no one cares because everyone is only focused on EVs and chargers. There are so many different protocols, different brands, different everything — it’s hard to manage. No one is thinking about the bigger picture.”
A Smarter Way to Balance the Grid
Chosen Digital’s core idea is to use AI and sensors to monitor how energy is being used, and where it is needed. “My solution is I have the AI and the sensor to be able to manage as a whole system,” he shared. “I manage the energy of EV, I manage the loads.”
The company connects to both private chargers and public infrastructure. “I have the sensor with the transformers. I link with the SCADA data of the government and also I linked with the charger. It’s the internet,” Worapoj Chosen said. “Charger have many, many chargers have the internet that can send the data. So I get the data from all the chargers.”
He sees this as a way to prevent overcapacity and avoid unnecessary upgrades. “So both way I manage the load not over capacity and also bring the energy back to the buildings and back to the grid as well,” he added. “Instead of building the new transformers and a new power plant, but we can bring the energy surplus to manage the balance of the energy.”
Chosen Digital is already collaborating with Thailand’s state owned utilities. “We connect with the national telecom, they provide the Government Cloud Server, national security and the Internet for us.” he noted. “And we also already have the MOU and pilot project with the government of Thailand for the government electric utility, PEA, and NT is the national telecom that I already connect and I transform the EV energy into virtual power plants.”
Building trust with condos, governments, and global partners
Today, most of Chosen Digital’s customers are buildings. “For the B2B, it’s the buildings,” said Worapoj Chosen. “Condos and hotels already be my customers.” He added, “I already have 150 buildings for the B2B.”
One example is AP Properties, a major developer in Thailand. “Before they choose to buy several brands but several apps maybe one condo five apps so it’s complicated,” he said. “But this one I developed for AP to have the AP smart charge to integrate everything to every charger and also the app that they already have integrate to their own app. No need to have another app.”
The company is also working on pilot projects in Taiwan. “We have the MOU and POC together with Acer in Taiwan,” he said. “Acer, they have the smart parking pole along the street. But now they will have more and more EVs coming to charge, to park. But they collaborate with Chosen to be able to park and charge.”
Chosen Digital and Acer ITS announce their smart EV charging pilot in Taiwan, part of a joint proof of concept to enable street-side parking and charging.
Security is also part of the company’s focus. Chosen Digital is working with VicOne of Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, to ensure that EV charging infrastructure is protected. It is an area many charging operators tend to overlook. The partnership reflects the team’s broader approach to thinking beyond hardware and addressing the full system.
Public sector partnerships are expanding. “I have the MOU with Laos government,” he said. “I got discussion and going to have the POC project with a Korean government and maybe Qatar government that they also sent a contact to me that they’re going to have the POC together.” He also mentioned “contact like Hong Kong government, ASTRI, developed together.”
Chosen Digital is built by a team of 12 people with backgrounds in electric vehicles, energy systems, and information technology. Alongside the core team, the company is also supported by Jack Cheng as honorary chairman. His experience includes former leadership roles at Foxconn, and as a co-founder of NIO, one of China’s leading EV companies.
Building for the Long Term
Right now, Chosen Digital is raising a $1 million seed round. Worapoj Chosen came to Taiwan to meet potential partners, showcase his technology, and hear what people really think. “We like to showcase our technology and listen for the feedback,” he said. “And we believe in the partnering of collaboration with technology in Taiwan and globally.”
He knows the concept behind Chosen Digital can be hard to grasp at first. “Frankly, our solution is quite complicated a little bit and a niche,” he admitted. “For the end user maybe they quite don’t understand, but the one who understand maybe in this EV field and energy field, they will be like it a lot.”
This year, the team is focused on growing its presence in Thailand and getting more government pilot projects past the testing phase. “We already proved that it’s working well,” he said. “Now we try to expand to be wider area.”
Next year, he hopes to show that the model works in other countries too, starting with Korea. “We try to have POC and try to prove that it’s going to happen and expand.”
At the heart of it all is a simple belief: that EV growth can’t succeed without smarter energy systems. “We believe in EV, we believe in green technology,” he said. “And Chosen likes to be one of the solutions.”
