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Groupe Renault is beginning the first large-scale pilot schemes in alternating-current, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging in electric vehicles. The pilot schemes will begin in the Netherlands and Portugal.

Groupe Renault places the reversible charger inside vehicles, so it just requires a simple, inexpensive adaptation of the existing charging terminals to implement V2G charging.

A fleet of fifteen Zoe vehicles with V2G charging will be introduced in Europe over the course of 2019 to develop future offerings in reversible charging and to lay the groundwork for the future standards.

These pilot schemes will begin today in Utrecht (the Netherlands) in an ecosystem developed by We Drive Solar and on Porto Santo Island (in the archipelago of Madeira, Portugal) with Empresa de Electricidade da Madeira, an energy supplier. Following these, more pilot schemes will be introduced in France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark.

Vehicle-to-grid charging is a key pillar of the smart electric ecosystems that Groupe Renault has set up. We have chosen onboard technology that also optimizes the cost of recharging stations and thus facilitate a large-scale development.

—Gilles Normand, Groupe Renault’s director of electric vehicles

Vehicle-to-grid charging—also called reversible charging—modulates the charging and discharging of electric-vehicle batteries in accordance with users’ needs and the grid’s supply of available electricity.

Charging reaches its maximum level when the electricity supply exceeds demand, notably during peaks in production of renewable energy. Vehicles are also capable of injecting electricity into the grid during peaks in consumption. Electric vehicles can therefore serve units of temporary energy storage and become key drivers in the development of renewable energy.

In this way, the electricity grid optimizes the supply of local renewable energy and reduces infrastructure costs. At the same time, customers enjoy greener, more economical consumption of electricity and are financially rewarded for serving the electricity grid.

In particular, these pilot schemes will help:

• Underline the technical and economic advantages of an onboard solution in electric vehicles.

• Demonstrate the value of services provided for the local and national electricity grid, such as encouraging consumption of solar and wind energy, checking the grid’s frequency or tension, and reducing infrastructure costs.

• Work on the regulatory frameworks of a mobile energy-storage scheme, detecting any pitfalls in it and offering concrete solutions.

• Establish common standards, the basic requirement for an industrial-scale roll-out.