Electric cars can do much more than "just" drive quietly and without exhaust fumes. With bidirectional charging technology, they can store electricity and feed it back into the grid. The latest study by Transport & Environment (T&E) shows that this could save Europe's energy suppliers and motorists billions. These mainly result from a more efficient use of generation capacity, a reduction in curtailment and lower fuel consumption. This could mean a technological and economic breakthrough for bidirectional charging (BiDi) in European markets. However, a regulatory framework that promotes the use of this technology is crucial. Without them, the potential will remain untapped.
By temporarily storing and feeding grid electricity back into the batteries of electric cars, a high degree of flexibility can be provided and enormous sums of money can be saved: In the T&E study, the commissioned Fraunhofer Institutes put the savings potential for energy suppliers and consumers in the EU at up to 22 billion euros a year. That would be around 8% of the cost of building and operating the EU energy system. According to the researchers, grid-active BiDi technology could save more than 100 billion euros across the EU between 2030 and 2040. In Germany alone, the results of the study suggest that annual savings of around 8.4 billion euros are possible by 2040.
