Thread by @AukeHoekstra

World first: bidirectional charging (V2G) using ISO15118!
The car is now a useful battery in the city of Utrecht.
Opened by our king @WiIIemAlexander.

In the (Dutch) @NOS article I explain why this is a really important step.
Quick twitter summary here.
nos.nl/artikel/227708…

The central problem V2G is solving is using solar and wind energy when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. For that we need flexible demand that can use solar and wind when available. The solution when you want to do that during the day is battery storage.

Unfortunately batteries are expensive. Hence we (a lot of people in the Netherlands) introduced smart charging: you delay charging until energy is cheap and green. This also helps the grid operator to keep costs down so what's not to like? The Netherlands is a frontrunner here.

But on average you only use 10% or so of your car battery per day. Your car battery would be much more useful if you could provide not only smart charging but also UNcharging or V2G. The picture illustrates the difference using one of our zenmo.com simulations.

Our simulations need more work but I currently estimate that with 10-40% of cars becoming EVs and doing V2G, we could provide all the battery capacity needed to compensate for daily fluctuations of a Dtuch grid with just wind and solar.

Recently I thought that was a fanciful idea: it would degrade car batteries too fast. But big strides have been made to combat battery degradation so I think V2G is almost inevitable in the long run.

Geek fun-fact: you can already buy NMC batteries that do 8000 cycles at 0.5C.

But a lot more needs to happen before V2G becomes a reality!

E.g. you need:
1 regulation that permits it in the public space
2 a willing car maker
3 a grid operators and energy supplyer to play along
4 a standard between car and smart chargepoint

Especially noteworthy is that they took the complex but promising ISO15118 standard that is being developed by (among others the EU) car makers. Using ISO15118 for bidirectional charging is really important in the EU in order to prepare for future car and battery developments.

All this now works in the city of Utrecht and that is really something!

Congrats @RobinBerg030 @WeDriveSolar @Groupe_Renault @Stedin and and @GemeenteUtrecht and great that the king shows that he understands the importance of green breakthroughs like this and highlights them!