Mercuria CSR report 2022 - Flipbook - Page 58
Why is bidirectional charging so groundbreaking for this?
Thanks to V2G, electric vehicles are intelligently integrated into the energy system. This way, they
make a valuable contribution to stabilizing the power grid by acting as buffer storage. If the share
of renewable energies in the power mix is to increase, the power grid will also be challenged, and
grid operators will be faced with the challenge of balancing their volatility. This is exactly where
electric cars come into play: because they do not move for an average of 23 hours a day, they can
be used as temporary battery storage during that time. Electric cars connected to the power grid
via V2G flexibly compensate for the fluctuations that inevitably occur when electricity is generated
by the sun and wind in a matter of seconds. In concrete terms, 15 million electric vehicles in
Germany by 2030 means roughly 750 gigawatt hours (GWh) of capacity – an incredible amount
compared to the 40 GWh of pumped storage capacity in Germany. Connected to form a giant
swarm storage, the electric car batteries absorb surplus energy at times of high electricity
production and feed it back when it is needed.
So, with the help of the technology ChargePilot developed by The Mobility House as well as the
EV Aggregation and Flexibility Trading Platform, we are making this untapped potential accessible.
Our connection to the European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT SE already signaled a further step
toward the intelligent networking of the mobility and electricity markets. In addition, we have
extensively tested bidirectional charging in several pilot projects with well-known partners in
recent years. This involved the use of both individual electric vehicles as well as 4,500 vehicle
batteries without wheels (in the form of 1st and 2nd life battery storages) in various energy
markets and products. Most recently, we were able to prove the market potential of aggregated
electric car batteries in a six-month field study at the EUREF campus in Berlin: The field study
reconfirmed the market need for flexibilities which can in particular be provided by parked
bidirectional electric cars. According to the study, trading on the European Power Exchange has
shown that, extrapolated to one year, thousands of euros in revenues could be generated per
vehicle. Taking into account deductions in the form of tax obligations, among other things, this
results in potential savings of at least EUR 650 for end customers.
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Mercuria
CSR Report 2022
