IoT makes it possible: swarm storage in urban mobility

The upcoming complexities need to be resolved in an integrated way and especially based on long-term planning. Towns are growing and their inhabitants are unwilling to do without their cars – yet emissions must be reduced quickly to avoid the threat of driving bans and EU fines.

At the same time, Germany’s energy transition continues to progress, with the proportion of renewable energy sources reaching 52% by the end of October 2020. Although part of this increase is the result of lower industrial consumption due to Covid-19, the trend towards more sustainable energy sources is clearly visible. The decision to phase out the use of nuclear and fossil fuels in particular is a political signal heralding a “green” transition towards renewable energies.

In addition, renewables increasingly contribute to energy generation. More and more days in the year are characterized by demand centered entirely on renewables when the sun and wind conditions are favorable. The EU’s Green Deal to reduce greenhouse gases is slated as a way out of the coronavirus crisis while significantly accelerating energy transition.

There are more and more days when the sun and wind are working hard to help our power stations produce electricity, but sometimes a lot more than is actually needed at the time. There is often not enough capacity to store the excess energy production – but hydrogen is currently looking like a very promising solution.

The principle is simple: if there is too much electricity, just produce hydrogen with it. It can flow into the existing gas grid or be converted to green fuels. Alternatively, the excess electricity can be stored in expensive batteries. A lot is possible at a technical level. But preventing CO2 also involves keeping an eye on costs. In every case, it is clear that the energy transition is very expensive.

This is where the mobility transition comes in. The e-car is a promising solution, especially in urban areas. New measures to promote electromobility were recently decided at the Autogipfel conference in Berlin. The German government expects there will be up to 10m e-cars or plug-in hybrids on Germany’s streets by 2030.

The capacity of these e-car batteries currently totals 500 or more gigawatt-hours. But if completely or partly electric cars could stabilize the power grid in both directions, acting as a swarm battery, it would not be necessary to build expensive power storage systems.

The power would not necessarily need to come from the car – its theoretical availability is sufficient and will be increasingly important with the progression of the energy transition. This energy reserve is known as balancing energy. There is already a market for it, but it is not that interesting for battery storage owners. But this will change in the foreseeable future as balancing energy will become more important due to increasing fluctuations in the power grid. In addition, capital efficiency is urgently required in the face of the upcoming investment demands.

As the e-car battery has already been manufactured and paid for, battery owners could make money from its power. The technical term for this is vehicle-to-grid (V2G), although it is not that new as the first studies on it appeared in 2008. In 2019, the German business newspaper Handelsblatt called this concept “a nightmare for opponents of the energy transition”. The technical feasibility of bidirectional charging has already been successfully tested in fi eld trials, so the energy transition opponents’ “nightmare” could end up becoming reality. In addition, most cars in Germany are not driven far (30km a day on average), which would facilitate the integration of e-cars into the V2G concept. However, an increase in user acceptance for this concept has yet to happen.

Let’s imagine a typical commuter. George goes to work in the morning and has a 25km drive there. He leaves with a battery that is 70% full, arrives at his office with about 50% left, and plugs the car in there; he will not need it again until early evening.

In the meantime, energy consumption is increasing at the office, but so is energy production from renewable sources as the sun gets stronger later in the morning. It’s also quite windy today. The energy being generated exceeds consumption, and this is what makes the car necessary for energy storage. George drives home and the car’s stored energy is now required in his local grid. An e-car’s battery is enough to power a family home for up to eight hours (example: 3-person home, 4500kwh p. a = 12.5 kwh / day, 50-100kwh battery).

George can’t be expected to connect his car to the local electricity grid. Managing the charging process, handling payments for making energy storage available, increased charge due to a planned long-distance trip and the planned destination – all that should be taken off his hands to ensure user-friendly and straightforward integration into his everyday life.

Random power generation from wind and the sun can be virtually connected to e-car batteries. The energy transition will certainly not be easy to resolve, but the sheer size and as yet untapped potential of e-cars for swarm storage could be the gamechanger in the energy transition. It produces a virtual power station that can and should be extended with all available additions to ensure it becomes a significant part of the energy transition.

Connectivity between modern cars enables owners to combine driving with other services, making the car part of IoT. The basic prerequisite for ensuring these solutions are accepted is that the car is seamlessly integrated into the user’s everyday life and that there are no gaps in the digital ecosystem. This applies to operation and management as well as to background processes such as payment. Easy in-car payments that are as autonomous as possible are a decisive step forward in the transformation process.

In-car payments enable users to pay for goods and services without leaving the car. Obvious use cases include car-related services such as parking, fuel, electricity at charging stations and – for shared-usage cars – the use of the vehicle itself. Users can also be credited with payments, example, when they rent their vehicles out or make them available for swarm storage. The potential here is huge, especially as statistics show that most people only drive their cars for about an hour a day.

Digitalisation and connectivity are the decisive success factors for implementing this type of solution. The processes can be designed in such a way that they run without the user’s intervention, which would be a significant boost to user acceptance.

Alongside the convenience factor, cost aspects also play a role. Billing and processing several small payments is inefficient. The same goes for the transfer of incentive payments to users for swarm storage availability. In conventional systems, the cost of the transaction may well be higher than the transaction amount itself.

In-car payment systems can provide an autonomous, secure and reliable alternative solution and are therefore of major importance in the implementation of swarm storage concepts.

The interface between the car, network and service provider can also provide valuable information about user behavior. All the parties involved could use the collected data to participate in the revenues generated.

To ensure a seamless user experience, the payment process needs to be as automated as possible and integrated into the customer’s existing digital ecosystem. The complexity involved in the implementation of such solutions should not be underestimated. There are still no established standards for the carmakers’ platforms, nor for the payment processes. This is why the interfaces are so important.

To drive the broadest possible adoption and ensure smooth processing, multiple parties will need to be involved – from carmakers to service providers (filling stations, motorway toll operators etc.) and from payment service providers to vehicle operators (e.g. carsharing). Standards must be developed for interfaces to various platforms to facilitate the integration of multiple service providers. For end customers, payments would be grouped together on the platform and listed as a single invoice item.

This payment flow for each transaction is divided up among the relevant companies in real time. For example, if a customer is paying per kilometre for the car and their payment is shared between the carmaker, insurer, electricity provider etc.

The electricity provider can settle credit payments to customers in the same way if they make their vehicle available as a swarm storage unit. Other important aspects include security as well as the infrastructure required to share, store and process payment data.

The examples described above show that not all of the work involved can be handled by the participating car and power companies alone. Banks already use the processes needed for in-car payments today and are therefore naturally qualified partners in this future ecosystem. But the involvement of future users is also required to ensure that the ecosystem to be developed is tailored to their needs, which in turn will already ensure high user acceptance during the development process.

This system is characterized by a large number of interconnected e-cars. Flexible, intelligent, manageable, and bidirectional charging structures – combined with payment flows that are also bidirectional – will enable swarm storage through e-cars. In this way, the energy transition includes the mobility of tomorrow.

The article was published in Opens in a new tabKompendium future URBANITY by Opens in a new tabAvnet Business Services GmbH