Written by Michael Coljin, CEO of Heliox
The need to reduce the world’s carbon footprint has quickly become one of the greatest challenges to modern society. The electrification of fleets has been proposed as a viable solution to help manage this. However in the UK alone, at least 60,000 charging points are needed to be installed to power 11.3 million electric vehicles expected to be on the roads within the next decade.
Right now the UK only has roughly 29,000 charging points. And 1.65mn cars were added last year. The growth potential and accompanying infrastructure gap couldn’t be clearer. Whilst the growth resumes pre-pandemic pace, the large amount of infrastructure needed implies monumental strain on our existing power grids. If we are serious about our long term prosperity, we must actively tackle the demand gap and address what currently isn’t working. The biggest strain on our grid is infrastructure. Using national centralised grids, means our energy is hard to reach, inefficiently stored and unsustainable for the future.
But what if our grids didn’t have to struggle, consumers could manage their own grid reliance and cities could achieve net zero emission goals?
Smart energy management serves as the perfect solution to this problem, and will become revolutionary in supporting the growing adoption of EVs. Managing one’s energy smartly means opting to charge at times when it least impacts the grid while also costing less. This will allow EV’s to go beyond their traditional uses too. EV’s have the potential to support the grid more than we know it but only with “smart energy management” can we unlock it.
Be smarter with your energy, the grid demands it
As it stands the UK’s national grid is struggling to balance new demand for electrification. The aforementioned 11.3 million vehicles are only one facet of energy output as there are still households, villages and cities that too need electrification. The expectation is on city planners to create effective systems, and they will be able to do so, with smart energy management systems starting with V2G (vehicle-to-grid) and evolving to V2X (vehicle-t0-anything).
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, an advanced form of smart charging technology, is considered a practical solution to energy management as it will support EVs that effectively put energy back into the grid. Octopus Energy’s partnership with Nissan perfectly demonstrates this in practice: the energy provider allows Nissan Leaf drivers to charge and sell excess energy during optimum hours – charging in the off-peak and selling in the peak. Smaller scattered examples dot the map in both Europe and US with the potential to charge your homes via an EV giving back to the “mini grid”.
In some areas, the grid is not strong enough to support additional demand from chargers. This is the case, for example, on industrial sites in remote areas or in city centers. Where the infrastructure cannot be economically upgraded, battery energy storage systems can be used to supplement the power needed to charge.
Smart energy management and V2G are some of the steps to a decentralised, low-carbon energy and transportation future.
While this is a waiting game, we are running out of time. The future is here and if city planners want to unlock the future of mobility, they need to invest in charging infrastructures for all electric vehicles that can not only support the grid but help it to thrive as we move towards a decentralised energy system.
DC comes before AC
Another way to do this is to heighten the presence of Direct Current (DC) charging. Although Alternative Charging (AC) leads the market with its affordability, DC efficiently facilitates the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, preventing energy loss.
And though DC charging can use higher power, potentially straining the grid, it charges EVs at speedy rates at home as there is no need to convert AC into DC. Every EV is equipped with an AC/DC converter, which requires more energy but as cities get smarter we will see a decrease in converting stations. This will give consumers the convenience they usually have with high-emitting vehicles, thus removing the additional energy needs of the converter.
Once this has happened, potential EV customers will no longer need to worry about range anxiety, as a fast charging station’s presence will help them feel at ease. overcoming one of the biggest barriers to EV purchasing and increasing energy resilience.
Power shift to decentralised energy
The need for a reliable electric ecosystem is something felt across the UK. A decentralised energy system is what’s needed. Decentralisation can be defined as ensuring energy is generated in close proximity to its use, diminishing the need for large industrial plants connected through national grids.
As such, energy storage can be the linchpin to energy management. There are plans already in place and with its action will come the ability to increase energy resilience, better balancing the grid’s demands. But we can only achieve this organised management with the appropriate funding.
Efficiency is the key to managing the finite resources we have. This is an essential measure to meeting our COP26 goals and softening the pressure placed on our power grids. Smart energy management will be our long-term end goal. Whether it’s V2G, Storage or DC, we can move into the future through smart and sustainable energy management.
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