The aim of the Vehicle to Grid Britain (V2GB) project is to unlock an understanding of the key drivers supporting the roll-out of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies, enabling millions of electric car batteries to become a vital part of the UK energy system.

Energy Systems Catapult provided modelling support in a consortium project that is studying how to reward drivers who use their electric car batteries to support the UK’s power grid. The consortium consisted of Nissan Technical Centre Europe, Energy Systems Catapult, Cenex, Western Power Distribution, National Grid ESO, Moixa and Element Energy.

The findings of the study will be used to help to assess how significant V2G revenues could be and the extent to which they could influence EV uptake within the wider market and policy environment.

Key points

• Residential V2G charging could be economically viable in the near term, but to do so will require a combination of high plug-in rates, reduction of the installation costs of high accuracy metering equipment for Firm Frequency Response (FFR), stacking of multiple revenue streams, and an agile model to move between revenue streams in a dynamic market environment.
• To achieve wider uptake and contribute to energy system decarbonisation, the industry must reduce V2G hardware cost significantly, develop viable commercial models to depreciate the assets over 10 years, and remove consumer concerns about range and battery impacts.
• A 7kW residential V2G charger could capture over £400/year in revenues, but only in ideal circumstances – a typical figure would be ca. £100/year.
• The cost premium for 7kW V2G needs to drop below £1000 by 2030 for continued viability.
• V2G could help to save £200m of cumulative distribution network investment by 2030.
• Smart Charging could generate GB energy system net savings of £180m/annum, and V2G could save additional £40-90M annually in GB by 2030.

The Outputs

In addition to the overall Vehicle to Grid Britain report, the project contained a number of work package reports delivered by Element Energy, Energy Systems Catapult and Cenex.