V2G is the Next Big Thing in EVs. What will Happen When 100s of Thousands of EVs Nestle up to the Grid Each Night?

One of the real benefits of the growing popularity of electric vehicles is their ability to transfer stored power back to the grid to help flatten peak demand of energy. It has taken some time for electric vehicles to arrive at dealerships equipped to arbitrage power to the grid, but it is now slowly starting to happen as the next generation of EVs are delivered with the hardware and software ready installed.

Ten years back I advised the board of one of Europe's largest energy companies on e2g, as it was called then. The innovation director I advised at the time said that his European board reckoned that their directors had about 8 minutes per month to devote time to ponder the question, "What will happen when hundreds of thousands of electric cars nestle up to the grid each night to be recharged? Will it fall over?"

Allow me to quote here from this Reuter's release on the topic of V2G:

"E.ON (EONGn.DE) and EDF (EDF.PA) are already working with Nissan (7201.T) to develop services that allow power stored in electric vehicle batteries to be sold back to the grid - and now they’re trying to persuade European car-makers to follow suit.

With millions of electric cars expected on European roads over the next decade, utility firms see both an opportunity to sell drivers more electricity and a risk that surges in charging at peak times could destabilise stressed power grids.

That’s why E.ON is working with Nissan to develop so-called vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services, including software for aggregating and marketing charging data so the German power company can predict peaks and troughs in electricity demand.

Nissan’s idea is that if you charge your electric vehicle (EV) at off-peak times and are prepared to sell power back to the grid when it’s under strain, you could effectively charge for free.

French utility EDF has teamed up with San Diego-based V2G technology specialist Nuvve to build the first commercial-scale V2G charging network in Europe for vehicles made by Japan's Nissan and Mitsubishi (7211.T).

Europe’s biggest utility by market value, Italy’s Enel (ENEI.MI), has also worked with Nissan and Nuvve on V2G pilots in Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as in Rome and Genoa.

The problem for the utilities is that, unlike Nissan, the French and German firms that will make most of the electric cars expected on Europe’s road in coming years are not playing ball - at least for now." You can read the full piece by Reuter's below, but also be sure to read the summary of investment amounts committed by auto OEMs to the EV sector:

As an energy consultancy working in harness with BMW Alphabet's own consultancy, the Gupta Partnership won the Scottish heat of the ICAEW Finance for The Future Awards 2015 for an innovative e2g solution linked to a new financial instrument created by Alphabet. Its purpose was to ensure that the owner of a smart eco-home in a development to be rooted in Corby, Northampton, England always had an EV in their garage to store energy in that vehicle and then buy and sell power to the grid. Here the EV was to be the smart energy storage hub for this new generation of eco-homes. Well, we made it to the UK finals but were pipped to the prize by an idea based on re-cycled coffee beans called Bio-Bean! Additionally, Tesla came out with their Powerwall energy storage system and this was followed by many "me-toos!" This is what happens when you are too early in the curve of innovation, a problem I have battled all my working days. Who joined Ford of Europe to make an electric car in 1969? Yes you guessed it - yours truly!

I have recently commented on the current quandary facing the world's cities whereby governments around the world have decreed the demise of ICE vehicles to be replaced by electric cars in the quest to reduce CO2 levels to mitigate climate change. Now that action in turn generates a new infrastructure-based problem related to EV charging as you can see from my recent Linkedin post below:

Electric cars with V2G capability will enable MAAS (mobility as a service) which will help to generate efficient low carbon transport modal choices for urban and rural situations. When automotive OEMs add autonomous vehicle capability you then have a mind-blowing spectrum of new transport solutions and opportunities which in turn will spawn a raft of new businesses, market consolidation and auto-retail retrenchment plus market disruption in the automotive space. I have added a link on e-shuttles as a post publish edit to show what is happening in the USA:-

Shared mobility is a growing feature of modal choice as attitudes to public transit options morph with the appetite to own your own car. This is not just a US experience, the trend will cross the pond. The main thing is that all these changes are coming and it is up to us as Transportation Planners to ensure we get this transition right.