AIRTO > News > Government funding awarded to project to prove EVs are assets to the grid

Government funding awarded to project to prove EVs are assets to the grid

  • The project will demonstrate that EVs plugged in at workplaces, leisure destinations, fleet depots and delivery hubs can help balance peaks in electricity supply and demand
  • Innovative ‘V2X FastHub’ will be based on 3ti’s Papilio3 pop-up mini solar car park and EV charging hub, which can be rapidly deployed in under 24 hours
  • Final phase of the project includes a six-month real-world trial using fleet of 10+ EVs as grid assets
  • Project’s DC microgrid design is significantly more cost- and energy-efficient than bi-directional AC systems, making vehicle-to-everything (V2X) energy management commercially viable in the near term and accelerating decarbonisation and net-zero goals

A consortium of British companies has secured £1,344,552 in government funding to explore how electricity stored in electric vehicle (EV) batteries can be used to smooth out peaks in supply and demand on the UK’s electricity grid. 3ti, the UK’s leading designer, installer, funder and operator of solar car parks (SCPs), is leading the new project funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, delivered by Innovate UK. The project is setting out to integrate bi-directional DC charging and the associated power management systems into Papilio3, a pop-up solar car park and EV charging hub. The ‘V2X FastHub’ project will be a watershed moment for future energy security, providing a clear pathway to help resolve the issue of intermittent supply from renewables by using EV batteries as grid assets.

The project consortium brings together renewable energy experts 3ti with advanced EV power solutions provider Turbo Power Systems (TPS), smart energy company GridBeyond, and EV & decarbonisation experts Cenex, in a 17-month collaboration to deliver a state-of-the art system, including a six-month real-world demonstration.

3ti will lead the project, delivering a customised Papilio3 with smart grid controls and a 280 kWh DC battery. TPS will harness its DC microgrid systems, managing the bi-directional charging technology through both CCS and CHAdeMO EV charge points, while GridBeyond will oversee energy management and aggregation services through its flexible Energy Management System (EMS). Cenex will host the vehicle trial, which will include the procurement of the trial vehicle fleet, data capture, analysis and final report to Innovate UK...Read more