In 2022, the septet of companies joined forces on the project V2X Switzerland to test two-way charging to an extent that has yet to be tested. The initiators hoped to gain insights into the future of technology in Switzerland and beyond. To achieve this, 50 two-way charging Honda e electric cars were integrated into the electric grid as part of a car sharing fleet over a year and a half. The vehicles were production vehicles with no hardware or software changes.
The project was supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (BFE) pilot and demonstration program and brought together partners from various sectors: car-sharing provider Mobility, which plans to convert its entire fleet of 3,000 vehicles by 2030 at the latest, used the test vehicles. Motor company Honda – represented by Honda R&D Europe and Honda Motor Europe – supplied the vehicles. The Swiss company EVTEC built the two-way charging stations, Sun2Wheel developed the software, Tiko was there as an aggregator, and Novatlantis (in collaboration with ETH Zurich) was there as a flexibility buyer and science representative.
Widespread deployment needs ‘a few more years’
The focus of V2X Suisse was on vehicle-to-home (V2H) to vehicle-to-network (V2G) applications – i.e. a wide range of two-way use cases. After a year and a half, the partners are now convinced: the technology works and could work economically. With Switzerland’s yes to the Electricity Act, general conditions in the Alpine republic are also improving. But: In order for electric cars to stabilize the electric grid on a large scale in the future, the project participants believe that additional efforts are needed from a large number of stakeholders (politics, charging station manufacturers, network managers). “The era of two-way electric cars is upon us, but the technology is still a few years away from widespread use,” Honda wrote in a statement.
One of the project’s technical successes is that the Honda electric cars were able to “deliver the amount of electricity requested by the grid operator within seconds,” it said. According to Honda, the V2X project demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to combine several electric cars in a decentralized manner in a virtual storage system and control the energy flow in real time.
From the partner’s side, Carsharer Mobility provided the perfect environment for this test with its vehicles and infrastructure: “This allowed us to look at perhaps the most complex use case – with cars located all over Switzerland with various electricity providers of energy and are available for Shared journeys at any time must stop,” says Pascal Barth, electrical engineer at Mobility. This shows: “If two-way charging is possible in car sharing, it should be possible everywhere.”
With a mixture of 10 and 20 kW charging points operated by Mobility itself, the result of the pilot project was manageable, and the Honda e’s drive battery is also known to be rather small at 35.5 kWh. However, when extended to the entire car-sharing fleet, electric cars would account for 60 megawatts of connected load, according to Mobility. This is more than the Peccia pumped power plant in Ticino, it was said at the start of the project. Admittedly a theoretical value, but it shows the potential of bi-directional charging quite well.
The potential revenue is still far below the cost
In addition to technical feasibility, the project also looked at whether money could be made with a two-way fleet of cars. The short answer: not yet. “First, the economic conditions for network services must become more attractive,” Honda writes. Those involved in the project have found that they can already generate income by loading and unloading at the right time – about 600 francs per vehicle per year (the equivalent of about 617 euros). However, this is far from covering the costs in the trial phase. “Among other things, due to the very high prices for two-way charging stations, due to the low volume of production,” say the initiators. In addition, the two-way electric car market is still at an early stage of development and there are no uniform standards yet. That’s why the selection of available models with two-way charging options is currently relatively small. This means that special solutions are required to control a fleet that does not operate independently of the manufacturer.
“The range of two-way charging cars has developed less quickly than expected,” explains V2X project manager and industry expert Marco Piffaretti. However, he is confident: “V2X Suisse has generated a lot of positive reactions and given two-way technology a boost. We’re sending a strong message to automakers to bring more and cheaper of these vehicles to market.”
At least one framework treaty will be significantly improved in Switzerland from 2025, as Switzerland approved a new electricity law on June 9. This allows, among other things, the return of double grid charges, which previously made feeding electricity into the grid economically unattractive. The law also lays the foundations for a flexibility market for local distribution network operators. Relevant regulations are now being developed by the federal administration.
However, the V2X Suisse project no longer benefits from this. According to previous statements, it was designed in such a way that if successful it could have led directly to continuous operation. But: “Mobility’s financial estimates have not yet met expectations, so the company is currently focused on the continued electrification of the fleet,” he says.
Participants still see a lot of potential in V1G
Mobility CEO Roland Lötscher is still full of praise and describes the project as a great opportunity to learn a lot about developments and technologies in electrification and energy markets. “We will use the findings to charge our electric fleet smarter in the future. This will not only have a positive economic impact, but will also improve the life of car batteries. “V2X Suisse has impressively demonstrated the potential of this technology for Switzerland and for fleet operators.”
Honda also initially wants to focus more on smart and grid-friendly charging (so-called V1G). Martin Stadie, Divisional Director, Honda R&D Europe, emphasizes that “V2G technologies are an integral part of the development of future vehicles and energy services.” For two-way charging, Stadie specifically sees “application in the context of V2H as the next step, as the barriers to integration of this application are low. “In the V2G sector, we are closely monitoring the development of the energy market regulatory framework and the standardization of billing management and communication in order to deliver added value for the end customer as quickly as possible.”