Volvo doubles down on V2G with new energy solutions business

At the same time as launching a V2G pilot, Volvo Cars is launching Volvo Cars Energy Solutions, a new business unit that will offer energy storage and charging-related technologies and services with bidirectional capacity, enabling customers to discharge energy back onto the power grid.

Volvo’s new business is being called a move to capitalise on the potential offer by EVs for charging users’ homes and the grid to help support the transition to a smarter, more sustainable and more efficient energy grid.

Bidirectional charging is a technology that allows an electric car to give back extra battery power to a compatible grid, helping to balance the power load during peak hours and reduce the need for fossil-generated electricity.

Volvo’s new flagship fully electric EX90 SUV  will be their first Volvo car equipped with all the necessary hardware and, eventually, the software to enable bidirectional charging and direct energy storage from solar.

Together with Göteborg Energi Nät AB, the local grid company in Volvo’s Swedish hometown of Gothenburg, the company is also launching a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot programme that aims to test such V2G technologies on the local energy grid and in a home environment with real customers.

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The pilot deliberately uses a low-cost AC wallbox, because it will help to accelerate widespread adoption of the technology.

The pilot project aims to gain acceptance from a grid company, demonstrate to other grid companies that V2G programmes can provide tangible benefits and create a testing arena for new technologies.

“With bidirectional charging, you can use your car battery as an extra energy supply, for example to provide power to your home, other electric devices or another electric Volvo car,” said Alexander Petrofski, the new head of Volvo Cars Energy Solutions.

“The next step would be to enable this feature all around Sweden, and hopefully that will pave the way for even broader acceptance of similar charging and energy storage services around Europe.”

Spare capacity

According to Volvo, in their aim to become fully electric, their engineers have calculated that the total battery capacity of their EV fleet will reach around 50GWh by mid-decade.

While these cars will use several TWh in electricity each year, this energy consumption is flexible and can be moved in time via smart charging.

At the same time, they state, data from their Volvo fleet shows that the average daily drive in Europe uses less than 10kWh, while 90% of all daily drives use less than 20kWh.

This means there is ample spare battery capacity left that can be used for other purposes, which is where bidirectional charging comes into play: a technology that allows customers to repurpose energy stored in the battery of their electric Volvo at a later stage.

V2G is one of those scenarios, as it allows for energy to be delivered back to the power grid from the battery of an EV when the demand for electricity is higher – against compensation.

Beyond V2G, Volvo Cars Energy Solutions is also looking at vehicle-to-home (V2H) products and vehicle-to-load (V2L) services, where the electric car battery powers other products, such as camping gear or electric bicycles.