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Hitachi Europe Ltd., Mitsubishi Motors and ENGIE are partnered in a project to explore the potential for electric vehicles to act as a means of energy storage for an office building. For this demonstration, the consortium linked Hitachi’s vehicle-to-everything (V2X) charger to ENGIE’s office building in Zaandam, The Netherlands.

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Hitachi’s V2X Charger is the first recharger that not only recharges an electric car but can also discharge the energy back into the building/grid providing different flexibilities including kW, ΔkW, kWh and VAR. Moreover, it is possible to connect solar panels and external storage directly to the recharger, allowing a more efficient electricity supply to buildings.

The V2X Charger is connected to the building’s energy supply and, when the building generates more solar power than it needs, this excess energy is stored in the battery of the electric car. This energy can then be discharged back into the grid when appropriate. The car battery therefore acts as an energy storage source, as well as an emergency power supply.

Contributions from the partners include:

  • Hitachi is providing its V2X charger, which enables bi-directional charging between the electric car battery and the building or electricity grid. It is also supplying the technology which enables the integration of energy between the vehicle and the building, and the vehicle and the electricity grid.

  • ENGIE is connecting the battery inside the electric car via a V2X Charger to the building’s energy supply system and integrating it with solar panels or other renewable energy sources within the smart grid.

  • Mitsubishi Motors is providing an Outlander PHEV SUV.

For the next stage of the project, the consortium will examine how electric vehicles, renewable energy and Building Energy Management Systems can work together to enable buildings to become energy-neutral. This leads to intelligent and more efficient microgrids that can interact with building energy management systems (BEMS).

Comments

mahonj

It is a very good thing to be able to charge a PHEV or BEV at work.
The problem is getting the company to provide chargers and to make sure you can get to one (some other bufoon has not parked beside it).
There is a greater chance of the company fitting chargers if they get something back from it and load balancing via the PHEV battery could be it.
What you don't want is that they fully cycle your battery each day as that would shorten its lifetime. You either want shallow cycling, or very little.
If they find they need a battery to balance their system, they might be better off just buying a dedicated one.
A simpler version of this is one where you only charge when the demand on power is low so you do not stress the grid with charging, and being able to charge during work hours enhances this.

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