Germany must “urgently remove” obstacles in way of bidirectional charging for EVs – BEE

Germany must “urgently remove” the obstacles that still stand in the way of bidirectional charging in order to fully leverage the transport sector’s potential to make electricity consumption more flexible, renewable energy association BEE said. Responding to the transport ministry’s recently unveiled charging infrastructure master plan, the BEE said that it was important to class electric vehicle (EV) batteries as storage devices in their own right.

Bidirectional charging enables the batteries inside EVs to function as standard storage systems, withdrawing electricity from the grid when there is plenty available, or supplying it back if the car is not in use – bringing flexibility into the power system and earning owners money. Many EVs can already technically feed energy back into the grid, but electricity taxes and grid fees have so far meant that bidirectional charging does not make financial sense for car owners.

“The master plan offers the opportunity to leverage the potential of non-fossil mobility for decarbonising transport and expanding flexibility in the grid,” said BEE president Ursula Heinen-Esser. “Every single electric vehicle is a small, rolling storage unit and can therefore help to relieve the grid in the event of a surplus of electricity feed in, thus avoiding curtailments.”

Flexibility is key in an electricity system that relies on intermittent renewable energy sources. Storage, flexible demand management and flexible back-up power plants will play a key role in ensuring security of supply as well as optimising the electricity system's operation and costs. Germany aims to cover 80 percent of its electricity demand with renewables by 2030.

Germany’s transport sector has continuously missed its emissions reduction targets, as the country struggles to shift from combustion engines to electric vehicles and other climate friendly modes of transport.