Electric vehicle (EV) charge point management platform, Fuuse, along with innovators in energy and EV charger manufacturing have been granted almost £200,000 to develop an end-to-end V2X (vehicle-to-everything) DC microgrid solution for fleets. The project seeks to provide support for the National Grid as EV uptake continues to accelerate putting rising pressures on energy demand.
The project, already underway, explores the efficient distribution of energy between EV batteries and other site components such as buildings, other vehicles, or local generation sources such as solar panels and wind turbines.
Joining Fuuse is Turbo Power Systems (TPS), providing their Velox ultra rapid electric vehicle charging hardware. This can uniquely both charge and discharge vehicle batteries to enable V2X. Fleet electrification specialists, Gridicity, also join the consortium to provide smart intelligent forecasting of energy demand and supply.
Fuuse will collate these insights and determine where the energy in the EV batteries will be moved from and to. Powering the crucial testbed on which to prove the capabilities of the new solution, is the Power Network Distribution centre (PNDC) based at the University of Strathclyde.
Dr Will Maden, Fuuse COO, said: “As momentum for EV uptake accelerates and more pressure mounts on fleets to make the transition, we must focus our efforts on resilience, for not only organisation sites, but the wider Grid. We must enable fleets to transition as responsibly and efficiently as possible.
“This project is another step toward organisations becoming self-sufficient when it comes to their site energy infrastructure. Fleets who can harness and redistribute their EV battery energy where it is most needed will not only reap operational and financial rewards but become a key player in providing the support the UK will need in its EV rollout goals.”
Nigel Jakeman, TPS Engineering & Business Development Director, said: “With the challenges presented by the electricity distribution network capacity to deploying wide-scale electric vehicle fleets, V2X will undoubtably play a role in addressing this and unlocking the full potential of EVs.
“Deployed in our Velox chargers, V2X will provide resilient and flexible charging solutions for our customers enabling transfer of power not just to the vehicle but from the vehicle to supply local premises, the grid, battery storage and even other vehicles.”
Alicia Blatiak, Gridicity CEO and founder, said: “Knowing when EV charging demand and other building demand is expected allows for intelligent microgrid-like capabilities on the sites of fleet customers for the day ahead.
“The V2X solution we are working on as a consortium will be of benefit to customer sites, making the most of energy tariffs, local energy generation and offering grid services. We are pooling expertise to operationalise the potential of V2X technology.”
Ryan Sims, PNDC Lead R&D Engineer, said: “V2X technologies hold great potential to provide value to their owners and to the wider energy networks. The ‘V2X Local Network Fleet Solution’ solution represents an exciting development of V2X technology.
“This unlocks the full storage potential of EV batteries and delivers benefits from DC-to-DC power exchange efficiencies with other local energy resources. The PNDC is delighted to be able to support this by project by testing the full integrated solution within our smart grid test lab.”
The grant funding comes as part of the government’s V2X innovation programme, part of a wider Flexible Innovation Programme to deliver a range of smart energy applications. This phase of the project aims to test the concept in a controlled environment. Future developments will include real-world testing with forward-thinking fleets.
