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Following from its preparations on digitalising Europe’s energy sector, the European Commission conducted a workshop on efficient integration of electric vehicles to the electricity system and data sharing framework that took place on 18 February 2022. This was the second of a six-part series of workshops on the digitalisation of the energy system, co-organised by the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) together with the Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) and the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE).
Under the European Green Deal, the Commission proposes to increase the target of renewable sources in the EU’s energy mix to 40%, reducing greenhouse gases by 55% by 2030 and making the EU climate-neutral by 2050. This will introduce the need to accelerate the shift to sustainable and smart mobility in order to reduce transport emissions by 90% by the year 2050. The Commission’s proposal to revise carbon emission performance standards also introduces a new 2035 CO2 target, set at -100% for newly built cars and vans.
Digitalisation will be key for the process of decarbonising the energy system, particularly when it comes to integrating EVs into the grid, including renewables and low-carbon energy across domains like smart living and buildings. Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power are needed in order to lower emissions in the electricity sector, which is currently responsible for releasing more carbon dioxide than any other sector. As electricity generation becomes cleaner, the electrification of areas that have until now been dominated by fossil fuels – like transport, central heating and steel production – will be crucial to reducing carbon emissions in Europe and beyond.
Digitalising the electricity network and real-time data exchange with electric cars will identify capacity issues for EV charging, helping to recognise investment needs and speed-up the deployment of a recharging infrastructure, and facilitate features like bidirectional charging in the long run. Ensuring an EV charging infrastructure and an electricity system that enables higher demand is necessary for a fast-growing EV market. In order to maximise integration of EVs into the energy system and manage charging according to the user, Europe will need to deploy smart grids, smart rechargers and common communication protocols between the grid, rechargers and vehicles.
It is important to align the necessary architectures in order to properly integrate the energy and mobility sectors. Several standards already exist or are emerging, for example between EVs and charging stations, but there is also a need for cross-sectoral acceptance of standards and data governance, and not just a focus on specific sectors as traditional standards generally have done in the past. Public and private companies will play an important role as neutral intermediaries between grid operators and smart buildings and mobility actors, but specifically who will play this role remains to be seen.