Vattenfall, together with Kia and Hyundai, is launching a pilot with bi-directional charging, what is known as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G). This allows electric cars to store power and deliver it back to the grid in a controlled way. The cars thus act as flexible energy storage and help to better balance power supply and demand.
With V2G, electric vehicles can not only draw power from the grid, but also feed power back. As a result, the cars act as mobile batteries that can help absorb peaks in energy demand or store surpluses. Thus, they can help combat grid congestion.
Eighty vehicles
Up to eighty selected owners of a Kia EV9 or Hyundai IONIQ 9 will participate in the pilot. They will receive a bi-directional charging station during the pilot, which will be installed free of charge. In addition, the kilowatt hours charged at home will be reimbursed, with a maximum of 500 euros.
Vattenfall, Kia and Hyundai thus want to investigate whether the deployment of V2G will allow power to be used more efficiently, including by deploying EV batteries at times of scarcity. The charging and discharging of car batteries is smartly and automatically controlled by Vattenfall. In this way, the energy company ensures that cars automatically move with the supply and demand of power.
Participants can set wishes
Kia and Hyundai in turn supply the cars and charging technology. Participating owners will have access to an app that provides insight into their vehicle's charging sessions. Through this app, participants can also set requirements, such as a departure time or the minimum battery percentage that should always be available.
"Electric cars are stationary most of the day," says Jeroen van Loon, director of Customer Solutions at Vattenfall Netherlands. "At the same time, they have a large battery: where a home battery is usually around 10 kilowatt hours, an electric car quickly has 50 to 60 kilowatt hours of storage. In this pilot, we are exploring how we can unlock that flexibility of this new generation of cars, gaining experience with an energy system that can better move with supply and demand."
