The sum of battery capacity that is installed in BEV’s exceeds any other storage that is currently connected to the grid. With the growing electrification of virtually all road vehicles – cars, trucks, and buses – an equally rising number of vehicles will become available and will offer flexibility. To utilize this potential, several concepts are applied, such as vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-home and smart charging. By charging when electricity is abundant and possibly discharging when it is scarce, electric vehicles are able to overcome one of the key challenges of the renewable energy transition: the need for storage capacity.

In combining vehicles to render virtual power plants a higher power rating is achieved than conventional power plants will be able to offer. Through such „power plant swarms“, the grid can be stabilised given bidirectional charging is applied. This no longer is mere vision as as shown by the numerous activities of vehicle manufacturers, operators of grid and charging stations as well as billing companies.

Unlike a conventional combustion engine vehicle, any electric vehicle is able to perform an important function such as smart charging during idle time, provided it is connected to a charging station. The argument that traction batteries of electric vehicles are unsuitable for this has now been refuted by studies, provided the operating logic respects the limits and boundaries of vehicles. “For economic and ecological reasons, we cannot afford in future not to use the controllable potential of 100 or more gigawatts that will be available via e-vehicles by 2030 for grid stabilisation,” according to Dipl.-Ing. Bernd Hömberg, responsible theme manager for automotive and energy, at HDT, Germany’s oldest technical training institute.

The revenue potentials of the various possible applications such as smart charging (V1G), vehicle-to-home (V2H), vehicle-to-grid (V2G) will be richly discussed in the conference. These developments put current legislation under pressure to allow increased operating modes, to enlarge the grid and make the integration of more renewable energy sources feasible. Open protocols are necessary, and, of course, additional care must be taken to protect them from potential cyberattacks. Ultimately, the goal of such activities is to enable novel business models where companies can compete to utilize the batteries’ flexibility as much as possible while respecting user comfort.

One of the most important actions to be taken is a widely available private and public charging infrastructure. It is also relevant trying to make the use of electric vehicles attractive to everyone and to exploit the potential of an electrical grid stabilisation. This would support the commitment to achieve CO2 reduction targets. Public support could provide additional incentives.

The technology itself is already in advanced stage. Apart from removing some legal obstacles, the relevant key-players such as vehicle manufacturers, grid operators, power suppliers, telecommunications companies as well as companies managing the billing and metering process to offer innovative business models.