V2G: Alex­an­der Grah­le explains the poten­ti­als on MDR

On Decem­ber 3, 2024, MDR published an artic­le about Vehic­le-to-Grid (V2G), in which Alex­an­der Grah­le, Depu­ty Mana­ging Direc­tor of Mobility2Grid e.V., dis­cus­sed the oppor­tu­ni­ties and chal­lenges of this tech­no­lo­gy. Mobility2Grid has been com­mit­ted to inno­va­ti­ve solu­ti­ons at the inter­sec­tion of ener­gy and mobi­li­ty for over a deca­de, vie­w­ing V2G as a pivo­tal tech­no­lo­gy for advan­cing the ener­gy transition.

Vehic­le-to-Grid: More Than Just Charging

Vehic­le-to-Grid refers to the capa­bi­li­ty of elec­tric vehic­les to store excess elec­tri­ci­ty in their bat­te­ries and feed it back into the grid when nee­ded. This can help impro­ve grid sta­bi­li­ty, bet­ter inte­gra­te rene­wa­ble ener­gy, and redu­ce elec­tri­ci­ty cos­ts for users. While count­ries like France and the Net­her­lands are alre­a­dy see­ing suc­cess in imple­men­ting V2G, Ger­ma­ny still faces signi­fi­cant hurd­les, such as the nati­on­wi­de roll­out of intel­li­gent meter­ing sys­tems and the ali­gnment of stan­dards among a wide ran­ge of mar­ket participants.

Alex­an­der Grah­le on Chal­lenges and Potential

Accor­ding to Alex­an­der Grah­le, imple­men­ting V2G in Ger­ma­ny is com­pli­ca­ted by the lar­ge num­ber of stake­hol­ders in the ener­gy sec­tor who need to agree on stan­dards and business models. He high­ligh­ted that intel­li­gent meter­ing sys­tems are cri­ti­cal, as they enable com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on and coor­di­na­ti­on bet­ween vehic­les and the grid.

Ano­ther key point is the importance of slow char­ging, which is par­ti­cu­lar­ly sui­ta­ble for V2G. Slow char­ging allows users to take advan­ta­ge of mar­ket pri­ce fluc­tua­tions while pro­tec­ting the bat­tery from pre­ma­tu­re aging. Grah­le also noted that crea­ti­ve solu­ti­ons, such as inte­gra­ting char­ging infra­struc­tu­re into street­lights, are essen­ti­al to make V2G fea­si­ble in urban areas.

Mobility2Grid: Dri­ving Inno­va­ti­on for the Ener­gy Transition

Mobility2Grid views V2G as a ground­brea­king tech­no­lo­gy to redu­ce grid infra­struc­tu­re stress, opti­mi­ze the use of rene­wa­ble ener­gy, and actively con­tri­bu­te to the ener­gy tran­si­ti­on. The MDR artic­le unders­cores the importance of an inter­di­sci­pli­na­ry approach and col­la­bo­ra­ti­on among all stake­hol­ders to bring this visi­on to life.