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So far, electric cars can only charge and not deliver electricity. The VW Group will change that in the coming year. Other manufacturers are likely to follow suit.
Electric cars are supposed to be used for storage
A VW Passat charging: in future, the electric cars from Wolfsburg will also be able to deliver their electricity again - and will become a huge storage facility.
(Foto: dpa)
Düsseldorf Germany is wasteful of its green electricity on many days. Often the wind on the North and Baltic Seas blows so strongly that the electricity cannot be completely consumed. 6500 gigawatt hours (GWh) are lost every year because there is insufficient storage capacity. That corresponds to more than one percent of the annual consumption in Germany.
The auto industry is now promising a remedy. The vehicle manufacturers want to offer their growing fleet of electric vehicles as the energy storage of the future. With the 6,500 GWh of unused electricity, 2.7 million purely battery-powered electric cars could be driven for a year, Volkswagen calculates.
The cars should not only use up the electricity, but should also be able to return it to the grid when the supply is low and the cars themselves are unused on the charging station. In this way, electric cars can help network operators better manage fluctuations in the supply of green electricity.
In order for a fleet of millions to be used as a new, flexible energy storage device, electric cars must also be able to return the electricity to the grid at any time - they must be designed to be "bidirectional". The VW Group will be the first major manufacturer to start doing this next year.
"The test vehicles are running, we are in the last pulls with the preparations," confirms VW Development Board Member Thomas Ulbrich in an interview with the Handelsblatt. From 2022 onwards, every electric car from the Volkswagen Group that is developed on the basis of the MEB (“modular electrification kit”) electrical platform can not only charge the electricity but also return it to the grid. In addition to VW, the MEB is also used by the sister brands Audi, Skoda and Seat-Cupra.
The first generation of the MEB models, which Volkswagen has been delivering since autumn last year, is not yet designed to be bidirectional. These cars can only charge. Volkswagen retrofits with comparatively few technical changes and additional software.
Production should stop in December, and the bidirectional electric cars will go on sale after the turn of the year. A good 300,000 copies should then be manufactured in the VW plant in Zwickau alone in 2022.
Thomas Ulbrich
The VW brand board for electric mobility sees many new business models for VW - including the storage of electricity.
(Photo: Nils Bröer for Handelsblatt)
The automotive industry has long been concerned with the flow of electricity in two directions. But no manufacturer has so far successfully broadened its scope. In the case of Japanese and Korean car companies, for example, it has tended to stick to test and pilot projects. With the US newcomer Tesla, electricity only flows in one direction, namely to charge the battery.
Nissan's e-models have been able to charge bidirectionally as a standard feature since 2013. "The fact that this ability could not be played out so far is solely due to the lack of relevant functions of the current charging stations," said a Nissan spokeswoman.
But if the European industry leader opts for bidirectionality, then many other competitors will have to follow suit for competitive reasons alone. "Volkswagen is setting things in motion", says Stefan Bratzel, professor at the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) at the Bergisch Gladbach University of Applied Sciences.
Other automakers are likely to present similar offers for the foreseeable future. Hyundai from Korea has already made a corresponding announcement.
In the case of electric cars, two different bidirectional uses are emerging for the future, one solution on a smaller scale and one on a larger scale. With “vehicle to home”, electric cars can store electricity from a photovoltaic system, for example, and feed it back into the house's network when required. One battery charge is enough to supply a family with electricity for almost a whole week.
Volkswagen sells storage capacity
“Vehicle to grid” is about the much bigger solution: Then all electric cars available in a country that are connected to a charging station could be combined to form a huge power storage unit.
This would create a new business area for Volkswagen: The car manufacturer sells storage capacity. The respective car owner would of course have to give his consent and would receive an expense allowance. Volkswagen could take over the coordination and would earn money from it.
"This creates a situation from which everyone involved would benefit," explains VW board member Ulbrich. The most important thing is that previously unused renewable energy is retained in the future and can be fed into the power grid. Often enough, cars are not vehicles, but rather “standing items”. The vehicle industry therefore has sufficient experience of how much storage capacity would actually be available at certain times.
It is clear to Thomas Ulbrich that building an energy storage system from electric cars will take several years. There are still a few regulatory uncertainties, for example with electricity prices, he says. But at some point the car manufacturers would have to start building the new energy storage system, and the Wolfsburg-based company is now starting with it.
“We're going ahead,” said Ulbrich. Over time, the idea will develop the necessary momentum of its own. Bidirectional charging could raise electromobility to a “new level”.
Competition with the energy companies
The approach of the auto industry met with approval from scientists. "The amount of stored energy traveling around on four wheels is much greater than any utility company will ever build and put on the grid," said Gerbrand Ceder, professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California. The power grid can be stabilized with the storage of electric cars.
A significant improvement in the batteries is also crucial. In the past, batteries had too short a lifespan. In addition, they quickly lost a large part of their capacity due to the bidirectional charging. Modern batteries can easily withstand the flow of current in both directions without noticeably losing capacity.
The unanswered question today is how the relationship between a car manufacturer like Volkswagen and the big energy companies will develop. Because companies like Eon and Vattenfall could also try to get access to the storage capacity in the e-cars, which in the end do not belong to Volkswagen but to individual drivers.
“It is left to free competition who the customer ultimately decides on,” emphasizes VW board member Ulbrich. At the end of the day, the car manufacturers may have the upper hand - over the warranty conditions for the battery. Because it could be stipulated, for example, that the car manufacturers must have the last access to the charging cycles. Anyone who, as a customer, does not stick to it and would rather do their business with an electricity company could lose their guarantee.
New business models thanks to digitization
For the new Board Member for Development of the Volkswagen brand, expanded business models relating to the battery are just one component of a much more fundamental change in the automotive industry, triggered by digitization. “Everything is going to be digitized, but maybe not the tires,” Ulbrich believes. A whole range of new ideas and business models will emerge from this. The entire automotive industry is working on it.
The change will also reach Volkswagen's development department in Wolfsburg, where more than 10,000 people work. Engineers who are still working on combustion engines today will be needed less in the future. At the same time, the need for software know-how is growing. Ulbrich is therefore optimistic that the number of employees in development will remain “largely stable”. Employees from traditional areas would have to increasingly adjust to retraining and further training.
Autonomous driving will be a very central growth area for the coming years. “The car should become a time machine, it gives its, driver‘ time, ”says Thomas Ulbrich. In the passenger car sector, autonomous driving will be of great importance in the future as a new comfort element, especially on longer journeys when computers and software control the car.
On shorter distances, such as in city traffic, autonomous driving will not play such a major role. The technical effort in a city with a lot of pedestrians and cyclists is too great and becomes much too expensive.
SOURCE: Handlesblatt
Electric cars are supposed to be used for storage
A VW Passat charging: in future, the electric cars from Wolfsburg will also be able to deliver their electricity again - and will become a huge storage facility.
(Foto: dpa)
Düsseldorf Germany is wasteful of its green electricity on many days. Often the wind on the North and Baltic Seas blows so strongly that the electricity cannot be completely consumed. 6500 gigawatt hours (GWh) are lost every year because there is insufficient storage capacity. That corresponds to more than one percent of the annual consumption in Germany.
The auto industry is now promising a remedy. The vehicle manufacturers want to offer their growing fleet of electric vehicles as the energy storage of the future. With the 6,500 GWh of unused electricity, 2.7 million purely battery-powered electric cars could be driven for a year, Volkswagen calculates.
The cars should not only use up the electricity, but should also be able to return it to the grid when the supply is low and the cars themselves are unused on the charging station. In this way, electric cars can help network operators better manage fluctuations in the supply of green electricity.
In order for a fleet of millions to be used as a new, flexible energy storage device, electric cars must also be able to return the electricity to the grid at any time - they must be designed to be "bidirectional". The VW Group will be the first major manufacturer to start doing this next year.
"The test vehicles are running, we are in the last pulls with the preparations," confirms VW Development Board Member Thomas Ulbrich in an interview with the Handelsblatt. From 2022 onwards, every electric car from the Volkswagen Group that is developed on the basis of the MEB (“modular electrification kit”) electrical platform can not only charge the electricity but also return it to the grid. In addition to VW, the MEB is also used by the sister brands Audi, Skoda and Seat-Cupra.
The first generation of the MEB models, which Volkswagen has been delivering since autumn last year, is not yet designed to be bidirectional. These cars can only charge. Volkswagen retrofits with comparatively few technical changes and additional software.
Production should stop in December, and the bidirectional electric cars will go on sale after the turn of the year. A good 300,000 copies should then be manufactured in the VW plant in Zwickau alone in 2022.
Thomas Ulbrich
The VW brand board for electric mobility sees many new business models for VW - including the storage of electricity.
(Photo: Nils Bröer for Handelsblatt)
The automotive industry has long been concerned with the flow of electricity in two directions. But no manufacturer has so far successfully broadened its scope. In the case of Japanese and Korean car companies, for example, it has tended to stick to test and pilot projects. With the US newcomer Tesla, electricity only flows in one direction, namely to charge the battery.
Nissan's e-models have been able to charge bidirectionally as a standard feature since 2013. "The fact that this ability could not be played out so far is solely due to the lack of relevant functions of the current charging stations," said a Nissan spokeswoman.
But if the European industry leader opts for bidirectionality, then many other competitors will have to follow suit for competitive reasons alone. "Volkswagen is setting things in motion", says Stefan Bratzel, professor at the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) at the Bergisch Gladbach University of Applied Sciences.
Other automakers are likely to present similar offers for the foreseeable future. Hyundai from Korea has already made a corresponding announcement.
In the case of electric cars, two different bidirectional uses are emerging for the future, one solution on a smaller scale and one on a larger scale. With “vehicle to home”, electric cars can store electricity from a photovoltaic system, for example, and feed it back into the house's network when required. One battery charge is enough to supply a family with electricity for almost a whole week.
Volkswagen sells storage capacity
“Vehicle to grid” is about the much bigger solution: Then all electric cars available in a country that are connected to a charging station could be combined to form a huge power storage unit.
This would create a new business area for Volkswagen: The car manufacturer sells storage capacity. The respective car owner would of course have to give his consent and would receive an expense allowance. Volkswagen could take over the coordination and would earn money from it.
"This creates a situation from which everyone involved would benefit," explains VW board member Ulbrich. The most important thing is that previously unused renewable energy is retained in the future and can be fed into the power grid. Often enough, cars are not vehicles, but rather “standing items”. The vehicle industry therefore has sufficient experience of how much storage capacity would actually be available at certain times.
It is clear to Thomas Ulbrich that building an energy storage system from electric cars will take several years. There are still a few regulatory uncertainties, for example with electricity prices, he says. But at some point the car manufacturers would have to start building the new energy storage system, and the Wolfsburg-based company is now starting with it.
“We're going ahead,” said Ulbrich. Over time, the idea will develop the necessary momentum of its own. Bidirectional charging could raise electromobility to a “new level”.
Competition with the energy companies
The approach of the auto industry met with approval from scientists. "The amount of stored energy traveling around on four wheels is much greater than any utility company will ever build and put on the grid," said Gerbrand Ceder, professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California. The power grid can be stabilized with the storage of electric cars.
A significant improvement in the batteries is also crucial. In the past, batteries had too short a lifespan. In addition, they quickly lost a large part of their capacity due to the bidirectional charging. Modern batteries can easily withstand the flow of current in both directions without noticeably losing capacity.
The unanswered question today is how the relationship between a car manufacturer like Volkswagen and the big energy companies will develop. Because companies like Eon and Vattenfall could also try to get access to the storage capacity in the e-cars, which in the end do not belong to Volkswagen but to individual drivers.
“It is left to free competition who the customer ultimately decides on,” emphasizes VW board member Ulbrich. At the end of the day, the car manufacturers may have the upper hand - over the warranty conditions for the battery. Because it could be stipulated, for example, that the car manufacturers must have the last access to the charging cycles. Anyone who, as a customer, does not stick to it and would rather do their business with an electricity company could lose their guarantee.
New business models thanks to digitization
For the new Board Member for Development of the Volkswagen brand, expanded business models relating to the battery are just one component of a much more fundamental change in the automotive industry, triggered by digitization. “Everything is going to be digitized, but maybe not the tires,” Ulbrich believes. A whole range of new ideas and business models will emerge from this. The entire automotive industry is working on it.
The change will also reach Volkswagen's development department in Wolfsburg, where more than 10,000 people work. Engineers who are still working on combustion engines today will be needed less in the future. At the same time, the need for software know-how is growing. Ulbrich is therefore optimistic that the number of employees in development will remain “largely stable”. Employees from traditional areas would have to increasingly adjust to retraining and further training.
Autonomous driving will be a very central growth area for the coming years. “The car should become a time machine, it gives its, driver‘ time, ”says Thomas Ulbrich. In the passenger car sector, autonomous driving will be of great importance in the future as a new comfort element, especially on longer journeys when computers and software control the car.
On shorter distances, such as in city traffic, autonomous driving will not play such a major role. The technical effort in a city with a lot of pedestrians and cyclists is too great and becomes much too expensive.
SOURCE: Handlesblatt
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