European Industrial Coalition Lays Foundations for Bidirectional Charging

European Industrial Coalition Lays Foundations for Bidirectional Charging

Around 90 European decision-makers from business and government came together at the second summit for biderectional charging to discuss the next steps. Following the kick-off event a year ago, one reason of the latest summit was to present the results of the cross-border, cross-industry cooperation on the launch of bidirectional charging, which took place during the past year. 

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Dr. Robert Habeck said: "Electric cars can make a huge contribution to stabilizing the power system. Their batteries can also be used to temporarily store electrical energy, thus creating additional flexibility from cars as mobile power storage devices. This is a real win-win situation – car owners can also make money from it. [...].”

Around 60 companies from the European automotive, digital and energy industries have identified a set of almost 40 data points and interfaces that are needed to implement bidirectional charging. In addition, business processes and regulatory frameworks in the EU need to be aligned and adapted for the new technology. This particularly includes establishing a clear legal framework that defines the rights and obligations for bidirectional charging, as well as economic incentives for users and industry to invest in this area. Furthermore, the participants of the summit have underlined that they would like grid access rules and fees to be made easier, and a less restrictive overall design to be introduced, in order to be able to provide bidirectional charging services that are also beneficial to the power grids.

Regarding the legal framework in Germany, the companies involved recommend that a simplified metering concept and a simple balancing logic be adopted to meet the special requirements of bidirectional charging. In addition, the companies involved would like a legal test bed environment to be set up so that the necessary practical experience can be gained.

(Source: Ministery for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Press Release)