European project will test business case for vehicle-to-grid charging technology

Cenex to manage project spanning Birmingham, Berlin and Valencia

The business case for investing in vehicle-to-grid technology to power Europe’s urban centres will be tested in a Smart Mobile Energy Project spanning three cities.

The Smart Energy Project will investigate how cities can increase energy efficiency and decrease carbon emissions by integrating vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology into the existing energy infrastructure at district and city scale.  

The programme will explore how electric vehicles (EVs) can support energy infrastructure through V2G, using EV batteries as short-term storage to manage energy demand at district and city scale in Birmingham, Berlin and Valencia.

The project is being led by Cenex, a UK consultancy specialising low carbon and fuel cell technologies will lead the Smart Mobile Energy project, supported by the Climate KIC, a European public-private partnership focused on innovations that could mitigate climate change.

Sean Lockie, director of urban transitions at Climate-KIC, said: “The Smart Mobile Energy programme offers a unique opportunity for us to test the beneficial impact of V2G technologies in cities, by creating an understanding of the size of the opportunity, identifying common barriers and mapping the actions required to deliver the integration of electric mobility and energy systems at a district and city scale.”

V2G technology is already proven and operating successfully at a building level at Aston University in Birmingham. The Smart Energy Project will allow Cenex to evaluate how the connection and control of multiple V2G installations could be implemented at a district and city scale. 

Cenex will partner with the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Valencia, Energy Technology Institute (ITE) and The Foundation of the Valencian Community for Strategic Promotion, Development and Urban Innovation (InnDEA Valencia). The partnership will work with city authorities, grid and energy companies, large building owners and EV fleet operators to carry out the technical assessment and develop the business case for implementing wide scale V2G in districts and whole cities.  

Through this pilot, Cenex will evaluate the potential network impacts and business case of V2G in three major European cities. The research is expected to help to ensure timely uptake of V2G in the UK and across Europe to help manage the predicted increase in demand on the electricity grid as a result of the growth in EV uptake.

Robert Evans, chief executive of Cenex, said: “This is a critical next step toward accelerating Europe’s move to clean energy.”