INCIT-EV sixth use case takes on an ambitious challenge: turning an electric vehicle parking into an energy asset for a building.
Against the background of a continuously growing demand for power, meeting this challenge is absolutely key insofar as the electricity grid in some areas is nowadays regularly overloaded at peak times, resulting sometimes in power failures.
One of the answers to that issue relies upon an innovative technology: bidirectional charging.
INCIT-EV UC 6 bidirectional charger in Zaragoza
As part of the Use Case 6, INCIT-EV partners CIRCE, the Zaragoza City Council and TRIA Ingenieria developed several silicon carbide bidirectional chargers that were set up in the parking lot of a building located in Zaragoza, in Spain.
Thanks to a smart charging infrastructure, the chargers are both connected to each other and to the building. They can charge both electric cars and electric motorcycles. One charger is also dedicated to electric bicycles. As they are bidirectional chargers, the extra energy can be stored in the batteries of the electric vehicles that are being charged when the building is producing extra power, for example thanks to photovoltaic panels.
On the contrary, the electric batteries can be used to power the building instead of the usual sources of energy in various situations:
- at peak hours in order to avoid power failures
- when the energy cost is too high
- to reduce the carbon footprint of the building.
This process is usually referred to as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology.
Bidirectional charging has proven to be an effective response to cope with the surges in power demand during peak hours, to increase the share of renewable energies in an electricity mix or even to decrease one’s power bills.
Watch the below video for more information!