Four bidirectional charging trials have been awarded a share of government funding to explore how electric vehicles (EVs) can be utilised to balance the grid at peak times.
Backers of the four “vehicle-to-everything” projects have been given £4.8 million to advance their trials.
All four trials involve charging car batteries when electricity costs are lowest and then feeding that electricity back into homes or businesses during peak times.
The successful projects involve:
- Hangar19 Ltd in Chelmsford – will demonstrate a three-socket bidirectional charger, making a wider range of EVs available for energy flexibility and bidirectional charging.
- 3ti Energy Hubs Ltd in Leatherhead – will combine a quick-to-deploy bidirectional charging hub with a solar canopy and energy storage battery, house in recycled shipping containers, which can make access to bidirectional charging available in more destinations, including vehicle depots.
- Otaski Energy Solutions Ltd in Gateshead – will trial their bidirectional EV charger to enable fleet EV operators to access energy in a flexible way which could deliver savings in line with electricity supply and demand surges.
- Electric Green Limited in London – will work with QEnergy to trial wireless V2X technology with a fleet of 20 delivery vehicles at Royal Mail.
Minister for affordability and skills Amanda Solloway said: “The prospect of families being able to store energy on their doorstep in electric vehicles and use it to power their homes is incredibly exciting.
“This is exactly the sort of ingenuity and creativity that makes the UK one of the world’s most innovative nations.
“By backing this technology, we could save families hundreds of pounds a year, while also supporting jobs, investment and growth.”
The programme is part of the overarching up to £65 million Flexibility Innovation Programme, supporting the efficient and flexible use of electricity, within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).
Transport minister for technology and decarbonisation Anthony Browne added: “We’re continuing to support drivers, and this innovative new development is the next step in levelling-up our charging technology, which will benefit many households across the country.”
A separate trial which uses EVs to help balance the grid is being carried out by Octopus and National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) and was announced in September.
Octopus is the first supplier to take part in a trial which will use households to provide flexibility through the Balancing Mechanism.
In a separate trial, UKPN is also looking at how electric vehicles parked in long-stay car parks can be used to provide flexibility.
The network operator suggests that 4.3GW of flexible electricity could be unlocked by filling up electric cars’ batteries in long-stay car parks when energy is cheap and demand is low and injecting power back into the system at peak times.