Systems, methods, and other embodiments are associated with detecting an electric vehicle charging event. The system receives unknown time series data of usage values of electricity consumption, wherein the unknown time series data is unknown to have electric vehicle (EV) charge events. For a given account, the unknown time series data is converted into time intervals with corresponding usage values. Each time interval is encoded with a symbol from a series of symbols representing a level of electricity consumption, wherein the encoding generates an encoded consumption pattern of symbols. The system detects whether the encoded consumption pattern includes a string of high usage symbols that are similar to a known EV charge motif that represents a known EV charging event. Based on the detecting, the given account is marked as having an electric vehicle charge event or as not having an electric vehicle charge event.