Opportunities to use vehicle to grid for transport decarbonisation

Smart charging involves charging electric vehicles (EVs) at times when demand for electricity and costs are lower. Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology uses smart charging and also enables sending power from an EV back to a house and on to the national grid.

This study investigated V2G opportunities to accelerate the decarbonisation of transport in Scotland compared to smart charging alone. We reviewed global V2G projects to understand potential opportunities in Scotland and carried out modelling to quantify the potential for V2G to accelerate EV uptake.

Findings

• The financial benefits for V2G are strongest for vehicles/fleets with low daily usage and that are charged spanning both peak and low electricity system demand times. However, smart charging without V2G could provide a significant proportion of the benefits that V2G can offer.
• Passenger cars’ low usage relative to commercial fleets yields a strong V2G use case.
• Given that the benefits from V2G depend on infrastructure costs and battery degradation, a comprehensive approach is required to make EV adoption and decarbonisation more feasible.
• High additional value can be achieved from local flexibility services, where consumers are paid by local electricity network operators to adjust their demand, for vehicles such as passenger cars, but the value is highly location specific.
• V2G for commercial fleets would be more feasible by reducing vehicle usage and extending charging windows, which could conflict with their priority of ensuring service reliability.
• Across all vehicle types, a positive use case for V2G may not be sufficient to accelerate EV uptake. Other factors also influence the uptake of EVs, such as upfront costs. V2G further increases the upfront investment required despite adding value in the longer term.

For further details, please read the report.

If you require the report in an alternative format such as a Word document, please contact info@climatexchange.org.uk or 0131 651 4783.