Audi e-tron is ready for grid-optimized charging
Transmission system operator TransnetBW is working with Audi and Intelligent Energy System Services (IE2S) to test the use of decentralized flexibility from electric vehicles. “With our new pilot project with Audi, we are testing how private electric vehicle owners can benefit from flexible electricity prices in the future if they charge their vehicle at home but do not have a smart meter gateway or a dynamic electricity tariff. This helps us as transmission system operators to make efficient use of decentralized flexibility for system stability. And the special thing for the participants in this pilot project is that the technical requirements are met without any additional investment in the technical infrastructure,” says Dr. Rainer Pflaum, member of the TransnetBW Management Board.
Smart charging of electric vehicles at home is currently not possible without a smart metering system and a smart or dynamic electricity contract. In this case, postponing a charging process to times when electricity prices are low can neither be measured nor balanced and billed. This means that private electric vehicle owners have neither the opportunity nor the incentive to benefit from low electricity prices. The pilot project that has now been launched makes it possible to use the flexibility of electricity demand even without a smart metering system.
“The participants in the pilot group benefit from a charging offer that is very easy to understand and implement, as they do not have to meet any other requirements apart from installing an app. With the pilot project, we want to explore what offers can look like that lead to the increased use of renewable energies,” says Hagen Seifert, Head of Sustainable Product Concepts at Audi.
“We are very proud to be able to help shape such an outstanding project. Through our collaboration in the consortium, we are linking innovation, energy solutions and the mobility transition hand in hand and creating sustainable, technology-based and customer-oriented solutions for the future together,” says Dieter Kunstmann, Senior Manager at Intelligent Energy System Services, confidently.
The smart meter rollout is regulated by law in Germany. The mandatory rollout from 2025 applies to consumers with an annual gross electricity consumption of 6,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) or more and to controllable consumption devices in accordance with Section 14a of the Energy Industry Act, such as electric vehicles, heat pumps and battery storage systems. Due to the low penetration of smart meter gateways and the low acceptance of dynamic electricity tariffs, it is not yet clear whether the great flexibility potential of these decentralized consumers can be sufficiently tapped.
By using the existing systems of the partners involved and the currently established energy industry processes, an efficient process for integrating the flexibility of electric vehicles into the electricity market can be realized. For the project, a pool of Audi electric vehicles will be linked to TransnetBW’s trading processes.
Based on the usage profiles of its customers, the underlying system decides what flexibility is available without restricting their convenience. TransnetBW markets the flexibility on the continuous intraday market and balances the changes in the electricity consumption of the market locations compared to the standard load profile based on the changed load behavior in the difference balance circuits of the respective grid operators.
Since the start of the project, the partners have been successfully testing the interaction of the systems and processes in test operation. This is being simulated with virtual electric vehicles, the digital twins, under real market conditions. Initial preliminary results indicate a high potential for flexibility and savings for potential customers. From September, the pilot test will be extended to real vehicles and the participants’ available flexibility will be marketed in real terms on the exchange, and balancing and billing with the grid operators will be implemented. In particular, the end-to-end test should provide information on the feasibility, the potential of load shifting using electric vehicles and the economic benefits.
Der Ansatz ermöglicht somit die Kombination von klassischen Stromverträgen mit Festpreis und der Vermarktung von Flexibilitäten, da die Vermarktung, Bilanzierung und Abrechnung der Flexibilitäten unabhängig vom Strombezugsvertrag erfolgt. Aufgrund seiner Einfachheit könnte dieser Ansatz in einem absehbaren Zeithorizont für die Erschließung lastseitiger Flexibilitäten genutzt werden. Neben der Vermarktung am Intraday-Markt sind zukünftig weitere Anwendungsfälle denkbar, wie z. B. die Bereitstellung von Regelreserve.
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