Bidirectional charging to come this year

28.02.2025

Source: E & M powernews

The batteries in electric vehicles could not only be used to charge the grid, but could also supply electricity at times when generation is low. The German government is hoping for applications this year.

The CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag had asked the government how far bidirectional charging had progressed. This means that electric vehicles not only charge in line with the grid when a lot of electricity is available, but also supply electricity from their batteries at times when generation is low. This option is known as vehicle-to-home (V2H) if the battery power is used in your own building or vehicle-to-grid (V2G) if it is fed into the public power grid.

In its response, the German government considers the current implementation status of bidirectional charging to be an "important step towards a sustainable energy transition". The development of bidirectional charging is already technically advanced. For example, the European industry coalition for bidirectional charging has agreed on common data points and data interfaces "to make bidirectional charging possible throughout Europe", writes the German government.

Introducing norms and standards quickly

It expects marketable V2H applications in Germany from 2025. The European Commission wants to enable bidirectional charging this year, it says. A ramp-up of interoperable and standardized solutions for V2H and V2G in Germany will take place "as soon as the remaining standards have been defined and, above all, the necessary regulatory and technical course has been set", according to the answer. The European industries and standardization organizations in particular have a duty to accelerate their work.

There are still technical and legal hurdles that need to be overcome, especially for V2G solutions. The European industry coalition for bidirectional charging has recommended, among other things, that the required measurement effort should be significantly reduced and has presented a concept for this in which one or a maximum of two meters can be used in all applications. According to the German government, reducing the amount of metering required is one of several key ways to cut costs. To this end, a corresponding amendment was included in the last amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act.

"Bidirectional charging could enable the existing grid capacity to be used more efficiently by taking greater account of the utilization of the electricity grid," it continues. Accordingly, the need for stationary electricity storage could also be reduced. The specific potential is already being investigated in field tests.

Author: Susanne Harmsen