We believe sharing knowledge and helping others in the e-mobility industry to innovate is the way forward – for all of us. That’s why we created our Switch webinar series because by learning and working together, we’ll get there quicker.

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On Friday, 15 July 2022, we presented “Switch x Nuvve: V2G rollouts in local markets”, episode five of our popular webinar series. 

This webinar is for you if:

• you have ever wondered how to take your fleet into an electrified future
• you manage a fleet or even drive a company vehicle
• you have been curious about the switch to electric fleet vehicles. 

We have partnered with the global cleantech leader Nuvve to improve interoperability among critical electrified transportation components: charging stations, EVs, and the grid.

Our webinar speakers were: Marc Mültin (Founder and CEO, Switch), Adam Chilab (Chief Product Officer, Switch), Hamza Lemsaddek (Director, Embedded Solutions, Nuvve Corp.) and Parth Gadhavi (Product Manager V2X, Nuvve Corp.).

In the live webinar, we discussed:

• software is the new Infrastructure - how remote diagnostics and fleet management software combine to make EVs more realistic for your fleet
• the differences between V2H (vehicle-to-home), V2B (vehicle-to-building/business), V2L (vehicle-to-load) and V2G (vehicle-to-grid)
• the power of V2G - multiple use-cases and deployments.
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Here’s the recording of 'Switch x Nuvve: V2G rollouts in local markets' webinar.‍

We dedicated the last 15 minutes of the webinar to questions. Each question and answer is detailed below, so you can find all you need on V2G rollouts in local markets. Enjoy!

If there are any other specific questions you would like us to answer, shoot me an email at marc@switch-ev.com.

Want to see a demo of the Switch Platform? You can book a demo here today.

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Q. What do you think about the future of AC V2G?

‍Marc: Most car manufacturers are currently focusing on DC bi-directional charging. However, some car manufacturers are already experimenting with AC and doing AC V2G. 

There’s a famous project in Utrecht, Germany, on V2G charging infrastructure and how it is helping Utrecht move towards being the first bi-directional city in the world. You can watch it via Robert Llewellyn’s Fully Charged Show here. It’s very interesting. 

There is a bit of a split in the OEM and car manufacturing industries. Some favour more AC, some more DC and others are undecided. It's hard to say. 

When you look at workplace and home charging, I think it depends on the use case, where AC chargers might still be cheaper than DC regarding bi-directional charging. I see more of a use case there. Whereas in fleet charging, especially when you have buses and heavy-duty vehicles with big batteries, DC V2G might be more of a sensible solution.

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‍Hamza: I think it's going to be a mix. There's a different use case for AC V2G. We are trying to overcome some regulatory barriers here - compliance grid codes, for example. The use cases of the fleets will drive it. There's definitely a place for AC V2G. Many OEMs are interested in it, especially in the light-duty segment.

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Q. Has ISO 15118 been reconciled with California’s Rule 21?

‍Marc: There is currently a discussion going on in California whereby this Rule 21 currently specifies an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standard called IEEE 2030.5. It’s formerly known as the smart energy profile 2.0, which is basically a protocol defined by the utility industry in North America. 

Rule 21 defines that this standard (or protocol), or the capabilities provided by this standard, must be implemented into all inverters, including onboard charges in vehicles connected to the grid. 

However, if you read Rule 21 carefully, it says that the capability doesn’t have to be provided by that specific protocol, and it doesn't exclude other protocols. 

So in other words, the inverter must be certified to that IEEE standard, but you may use other communication protocols, such as ISO 15118 and OCPP. We do of course need OCPP to be compliant with the grid codes. The common smart inverter profile (CSIP) task force is working on it at the moment, and with the next version 2.1, we will have a version that is really critical-compliant.

Hamza: ISO 15118 covers the communication between the vehicle and the ABS. In the case of a DC charging station, though, it doesn’t really matter. 

In the case of AC V2G, it becomes a little more complicated, especially in other fields. There is the task force working on UL 1741-SC.

UL 1741-SC has multiple system types, one of which requires IEEE 2030.5 communication between the EV and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). What we are looking at now is expanded ISO 15118 to include some of those grid settings, especially for California.

Q. Which countries are ready to make money with grid services already (eg. frequency containment reserves) and which ones will follow next?

‍Parth: Let’s look at this based on the current market dynamics. We are running commercial fleets in the Nordics and Scandinavia, and they have been operational for a long time. That's why we know we can provide services such as frequency containment reserves (FCR). 

There are also ancillary services in those regions and scope for flexibility services. We have some operations in Spain and Portugal where we are carrying out demand charge management, and these services provide flexibility to the grid. 

In North America, we have programmes in California and the New England region. These programmes, such as Bring Your Own Device and Connected Solutions, mean we can enable scheduled discharges. The market is opening up and V2G has great potential. 

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Hamza: Ancillary services exist everywhere. It's about market access from V2G and vehicles, and that's why our regulatory group is working on this to enable those V2G markets. 

FCR exists all across Europe, and now in Spain and Portugal, although the market access there is not as easy as it is in France, for example in our dream joint venture is carrying out FCR in the USA. 

We've been performing regulation D in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland (PJM), as well as in California. We've had a couple of pilot projects providing regulation, but a lot of the services that we see in the USA are targeted at the distributor level. In the UK, they're more interested in local flexibility services, but the new markets exist. It's all about access. And the answer is that, today, we can access a lot of those markets.

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Q. What are the communications links Nuvve uses in its V2G pilots? How much does it cost per month and what percentage up time does it provide? 

‍Hamza: Nuvve does pilots but we are also providing these services commercially. In terms of the communication we use with assets or infrastructure? We tend to push for a LAN connection, as we find it more reliable. However, we have fallbacks for Wi-Fi, for example the up time we’ve achieved varies by region. It's over 99% on average. And the cost also varies per region. We're looking at less than $10 per charger for long-term evolution (LTE)-enabled devices, because we're working on optimising the communication between the charger and the cloud. 

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Q. Is ISO 15118-20 compatible or does it conflict with the development of J3072 and UL 1741-SC in California?

‍Hamza: So, UL 1741-SC does not specify ISO 15118 but we're looking at the extensions required for ISO 15118-20 to be in line with UL 1741-SC.

At the end of the day, it's about communicating the settings and information between the charger and the EV. I don't see many conflicts, but I do see some gaps in the industry that need to be filled. Of course, the task force for CSIP has not considered ISO 15118-20, but I'm sure in the next revisions, they will consider it, especially with the push in the USA for ISO 15118. 
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Want to see a demo of the Switch Platform? You can book a demo here today.

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‍Abbreviations

• CSIP = Common Smart Inverter Profile 
• EV = Electric Vehicle
• EVSE = Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment
• FCR = Frequency Containment Reserves  
• IEEE = Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• LTE = Long-term Evolution 
• OCPP = Open Charge Point Protocol
• OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer
• V2B  = Vehicle-to-Building/ Business
• V2G  = Vehicle-to-Grid
• V2H = Vehicle-to-Home 
• V2L = Vehicle-to-Load
• V2X = Vehicle-to-Everything