EDF-led consortium grows in pitch to roll out hundreds of V2G charging stations

Seven partners have joined an EDF-led consortium for the EVVE project, to expedite the rollout of vehicle to grid (V2G) charging stations in Europe.

Launched in 2021 under the leadership of the EDF Group, the EVVE (Environmental Valorisation of Virtual Energy storage) project aims to deploy 800 European V2G charging stations.

Altra (IVECO group), BNP Paribas Mobility, represented by Arval and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, Enedis, IZIVIA, Nuvve, Stellantis and Volkswagen Group France joined the consortium formed around EDF and Dreev to speed up the project.

The goal of the project is to demonstrate that by storing low carbon electricity, EVs can help to reduce CO2 emissions. The project will pave the way for the arrival on the market of new V2G functionalities based on the ‘Combo CCS’ European charging standard.

Supported by the European Union’s Innovation Fund, the EVVE project and its intelligent charging stations use bidirectional technology developed by Dreev. This technology programmes vehicle charging when the grid has abundant decarbonised electricity and the price per kWh is competitive.

The energy stored in the batteries of electric vehicles can then help to balance electricity supply and demand on the grid, particularly at times of peak consumption.

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Consortium plus seven

Commenting in a release was Olivier Dubois, senior vice president, Electric Mobility, EDF Group: “Managing the charging of electric vehicles is a strategic challenge for the electricity system. It is essential to enable electricity transmission and distribution networks to manage the massive arrival of electric vehicles efficiently and economically.

“The development of V2G will also provide a large-scale, competitive flexibility solution, making it possible to better manage the intermittency of renewable energies and thus accelerate their development. We are delighted to have the support of the European Union for a project of this kind, which is essential if we are to achieve our energy transition objectives.”

Each new partner in the consortium has committed to installing a volume of bidirectional charging points for different uses in several European countries, including France, to reach a total deployment of 800 charging points.

This is an opportunity for everyone involved to test this new technology and gauge its benefits for customers, such as fleets, and for the electricity system.

To date, 250 V2G chargers have already been deployed as part of this project, mainly in France and Denmark.

Said Eric Mevellec, managing director of Dreev: “The EVVE project provides a unique framework for testing the charging solutions of the future, such as V2G.

“It is a good illustration of how the European industry is organising itself around new charging standards. In practice, 800 bidirectional charging points will be deployed to form a virtual power plant with a capacity of over 8MW, which will make it possible to avoid nearly 25,000t of CO2.”

Added Pierre de Firmas, director of Electric Mobility at Enedis: “Enedis is now involved in the EVVE project alongside several partners, including Dreev, in order to test and develop V2G technology at around thirty of our sites.

“This project is taking place against a backdrop of accelerating growth in electric mobility, which will make it even more important to manage recharging and V2G in order to balance the electricity system in the years ahead.

“Enedis is at the heart of the challenge of the electrification of transport, as the charging infrastructures for electric vehicles are all connected directly or indirectly to the distribution network. We are also very committed to the electrification of our company fleet, with 6,300 electric vehicles by mid-2024, i.e. more than one in three vehicles in France’s second-largest electric fleet.”