Are electric vehicles the problem or the solution to grid congestion? 

INCIT-EV partners Greenflux, TotalEnergies, WeDriveSolar, CIRCE, IVECO and Stellantis answered this question last week during the very first INCIT-EV webinar!

The webinar started with a presentation of the smart charging algorithm developed by GreenFlux, TotalEnergies and MRA-elektrisch as part of INCIT-EV.

Since its implementation, it has proven to  be an effective response to cope with grid congestion. It allowed participation in congestion trading platforms to shift a 1MWh load. Its strength lies in the fact that it does not require any physical grid updates. 

The use of aggregated smart charging does not either have any negative impact on the electric vehicles drivers. Besides, it will ultimately lead to lower charging costs for the end users. 

CIRCE and We Drive Solar presented the bidirectional charging solutions implemented in The Netherlands and Spain as part of INCIT-EV : 

• The DC bidirectional chargers developed by CIRCE are now able to provide ancillary services to the power grid such as reactive compensation or voltage frequency regulation ; 
• After implementing a community bidirectional charging program in Odijk, We Drive Solar keeps on researching this technology by testing AC V2G charging using the vehicle’s onboard charger (OBC). 
• IVECO is also currently testing heavy duty vehicles under DC charging and discharging. As they do not use an on board charger, all charging applications have to be developed directly in DC. 

All partners agreed that bidirectional charging is now a mature technology. According to the Stellantis roadmap, it should be introduced in commercial vehicles by 2026. 

However, commercial applications won’t be developed before the benefits for the EV users and the profitability of the technology are perfectly clear.

INCIT-EV partners pointed out how crucial it is that the benefits for the end users exceed the costs entailed by the additional battery degradation caused by the V2G applications.