The NAL working group 'Smart charging' considers electric transport a great opportunity for the energy transition. Given the increase of supply of wind and solar energy, electric vehicles can assist in balancing the energy system. Moreover, smart charging technology can be applied by drivers to charge cheaper and more sustainable. Electric vehicles are potentially electric power stations on wheels: for example, they store sustainable energy when the sun is shining and supply the energy when you need it at home in the evening. As smart charging is beneficial for electric drivers it offers opportunities for new businesses. Smart charging is rapidly becoming proven technology and commonsense next step is to transform this technology into customer propositions. Given the accelerated uptake of electric vehicles and capacity boundaries of the power grid, smart charging is a must have. So, let’s stop pretending smart charging is something special. In the Netherlands we are setting the new yardstick that you just “charge” your car which is, of course!, always done by default in a smart manner. You wouldn’t expect anything else in the 21st century, right?
Actions in progress
Smart Charging for everybody. The ambition of the action program "Smart charging for everyone" is to make every charge session on a destination location smart by default in 2025. To achieve this goal a national programmatic collaboration with all stakeholders is created. The action program consists of three action lines: 1. realizing an attractive (smart) charging offers by market players for users, 2. national roll-out of grid-friendly charging and 3. coaching users in the adoption of (smart) charging. The approach focuses on actions that have an effect in the short term. The mindset is to keep things as simple as possible and the focus is on what is possible.
Closed actions
Smart Charging Requirements (SCR). The Smart Charging Requirements aim to provide an unambiguous definition of “smart charging ready”. The SCR describe the technical conditions for making smart charging possible. This concerns the vehicle, the charging cable, the charging point and the electricity installation, the metering device and the grid connection.
Lessons learned Smart Charging in the Netherlands. Recent Smart Charging initiatives in the Netherlands have been mapped out. The key learnings and knowledge gaps in the field of smart charging are listed here. The results have been included in the development of a national action plan for scaling up smart charging.
Explorations Smart charging organization. The question of the research was “Where are changes in the organization of smart charging desirable, with a view to the goal and general interest, and where is it better to leave the development of smart charging to the market?”. The results have been included in the development of a national action plan for scaling up smart charging. As part of this research some related topics have been explored and included:
- Current frameworks that are based on current legislation, regulations and policy for smart charging
- Overview of bottlenecks for the upscaling and development of smart charging.
- Future-oriented definition and description of all roles involved in the smart charging value chain
- Explanation of the concept of control model and related concepts in the context of smart charging