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VW will switch to mass-producing electric vehicles with bidirectional charging next year

RivianXpress

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I'd like to know Rivians plans on V2G!

https://electrek.co/2021/04/06/vw-electric-vehicles-bi-directional-charging-next-year/

Volkswagen has confirmed that it will switch all of its MEB-based electric vehicles to support bidirectional charging starting next year.

It could give a big boost to vehicle-to-grid technologies.



Vehicle-to-grid
During the early days of the electric vehicle revolution, the industry was cautious about the use of battery packs as longevity was a big question.

But now the industry as a whole is getting more confident that well-managed battery packs can last a long time, some see them as underused assets.

Some EVs have big battery packs enabling 200+ miles of range, but they travel fewer than 40 miles more days.

As the fleet of electric vehicles grows in some markets, controlling when electric vehicles can charge on the local electric grid has great value for balancing the load and avoiding running expensive and polluting peaker power plants.

If those electric vehicles could also put power that they don’t need back into the grid, that would have even greater value.

The technology is often referred to as “vehicle-to-grid.”

An electric vehicle with bidirectional charging capacity can send power pack into the grid, or a home, or even another electric vehicle.

Some companies and electric utilities have been exploring the idea of using a fleet of electric vehicles equipped with bidirectional charging to help balance the grid when needed.

With big enough fleets, it could provide very valuable grid services by taking back some power from thousands of vehicles that don’t need it. In return, those EV owners would get compensated by the electric utility for the use of their battery pack.

The problem has been that there are only a limited number of electric vehicles equipped with bidirectional charging capability.

The Nissan Leaf is the most popular EV with the capacity, but that’s about it.

However, there are many new EVs coming with the capacity. The new Hyundai Ioniq 5 is equipped with the technology, and Tesla has commented that all future vehicles will be equipped with bidirectional charging capacity.

Now Volkswagen is adding its name to the list.

VW going with bidirectional charging
We knew that the automaker had been working on the technology since they unveiled a wall charger with bidirectional charging capacity last year, but they didn’t say when the capacity would come to the vehicles.

Now the German group has confirmed that every new VW EV based on the MEB platform is going to be equipped with bidirectional charging capacity starting next year (via Handelsblatt):

“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 automaker could produce as many as 300,000 vehicles with the capacity next year.

It would result in big enough EV fleets with the capacity to have big impacts on the electric grid.

Volkswagen plans to be involved in the process to make sure it benefits everyone involved, including the electric vehicle owner.

Furthermore, bidirectional charging also offers other advantages, like the potential to provide backup power to your home when needed.
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McRat

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While this would be very cool, I see a huge problem in the making.
If people use this to "tier shift", that is to move $/kWh tiers:

It can reduce the life of a battery up to 50%. The average annual power use for an EV is 4 MWh, the average home consumption is 10.6 MWh, the high demand is when people get home from work, and is usually the highest tier.

However, if decreased life of the traction battery is not an issue, this is a way to reduce CO2 production nationally by reduced peak demand which will allow the shutdown of high CO2 powerplants that are used only during the high demand tier.

There is never a free lunch. There are only better decisions with lower consequences.

That being said, I would pay extra to be able to use my EVs as a whole house emergency power supply. Most EVs will put out over 100 kW to their motors, and that is plenty of power. A 10 kW system would be sweet.

Select sources:

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/f...t Scale Grid Summary Report FINAL Nov2019.pdf

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq....9, the average annual,about 877 kWh per month.
 

azbill

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Each time you cycle a battery you take away capacity and life. I do not buy a car for the purpose of powering my house, I intend to use it for transportation. For people worried about power outages or peak energy reduction there are multiple choices already:

  1. solar panels
  2. backup battery
  3. backup generator

I have zero use for a feature like this.
 

jjwolf120

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Each time you cycle a battery you take away capacity and life.
If you discharge and recharge in a narrow range, say 75% to 70%, (I'm not sure about the exact state of charge numbers) you can do that cycle a virtually infinite number of times without degrading the battery. (Per Bob Gaylen).

Solar Panels don't do anything in a power outage unless they are paired with a battery. I found this very irritating when I had a multiple day power outage.
By having the ability to use the car as an emergency backup system you avoid the cost of buying a backup battery or generator.

I have a use for a feature like this.
 

DucRider

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The VW and other vehicles enabling this feature are literally just providing a DC connection to the battery. It is almost certain that the owner will be able to put parameters/restrictions on how/when the utility can draw from the battery.
The actual equipment for implementation of V2G (or H) will be installed on your wall, not in your vehicle (the vehicle will just provide access to the battery).

A typical scenario for V2G is:
Dive your normal day (commute/errands/whatever). Plug in your vehicle when you get home. You will dictate how much charge you want and by what time (90% SOC by 8AM the following day i.e.).
Your utility will control when your vehicle charges, and may actually draw a little from your battery (amount and rate under your control) to offset some of your peak usage - most likely with just a few kWh pulled from your battery.
When you go to leave the following day, you have the charge level you want, you used less from the grid during peak times, your battery was charged during lower cost/demand periods. A handful of EVs doing this won't do much for the grid, but if done on scale will make a huge difference.
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