E-Mobility

Owning an Electric Vehicle and recharging it for a minimum charge will significantly increase the electricity consumption of an average household. This is an increase in electricity demand by itself, but is even more of a burden for the electricity network if vehicles are charged without delay when commuters arrive at home after work, because this time period is characterized as diurnal peak demand period already. The process of integrating more and more electric vehicles into the grid can also be used as increased energy storage to mitigate network capacity shortage. On the other hand, providing charge for this new vehicle fleet could burden local grids to the breaking point if no charging control is implemented for scheduling charging periods.
So, without charging control, the potential support for grid capacity from Electric Drive Vehicles would turn into extra stress for the grid and urge network operators to expand electricity infrastructure. Besides considering grid parameters for realizing smart charging algorithms, battery charging should be controlled under the aspect of device life time. The rate at which batteries are charged as well as the operating temperature during the charging process is an important factor to prolong or shorten battery life time. Usually lowering the charging rate also mitigates battery deterioration. On the other hand, with a decreased charging rate the charging process takes more time, so the control mechanism for vehicle charging must balance optimum battery requirements with the requirements of the vehicle user and the grid operator. The CCs NGS, ACT and NEMO are especially involved in the development of e-mobility solutions. In i.e. the MINE 1.0 project, these departments focus on the development of intelligent charging and Vehicle-to-Grid-technologies, as well as novel AAA-concepts to establish a modular distributed control system for optimized vehicle charging and discharging. Furthermore, sustainable electricity-based mobility solutions are currently researched in the BeMobility project.