A new study commissioned by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) suggests that closer integration of electric cars with the grid, using technology such as EV load management, could cut the cost of reinforcing Europe’s electricity grid by €10.6 billion by 2030. Without such load management, that investment is expected to reach €24.7 billion.
The evidence that EVs will play a crucial role in the future energy grid is increasingly strong
Commissioned by ACEA, ChargeUp Europe and EIT Urban Mobility, and carried out by Siemens, the study assessed the effect that growing uptake of battery-electric cars and vans will have on the grid across all 27 EU member states and the three EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).
EV load management is a technique which aims to prevent the grid from being overloaded by smartly controlling EV chargers and the vehicles plugged into them, deciding when they begin charging and at what speed. With BEV numbers in some European urban areas set to grow 3.8 times by 2030, the study finds that billions of Euros worth of physical grid investment will still be needed to cope with demand, but smarter management of existing capacity could at least significantly reduce the total financial burden.
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, still in early commercial trials, could play an additional role. It lets drivers use their parked, plugged-in EVs as energy storage that the grid can draw from, which boosts the capacity available. Drivers could be paid for taking part, and the grid would benefit from wider cost savings. A growing number of new cars offer bidirectional charging from the factory, but actual support for V2G is yet to happen on a widespread scale – and in fact, the report notes that for many parts of Europe, V2G will be ‘commercially non-viable’ until the end of this decade.
You can read the full report, here: https://www.acea.auto/files/Electricity_Grids_in_Europe_study_key_results.pdf
