Closing the local loop : supercharging the household

Abstract

The presence of electric vehicles (EVs) in households has paved the way to consider the vehicle’s battery as a backup source through bidirectional charging. This technique, termed Vehicle to Home (V2H) in conjunction with household photovoltaic (PV) installations, has proven to relieve grid pressure during peak load, increase energy autonomy, and reduce carbon footprint. This study aims to perform a simulation of V2H systems using granular load profiles to quantify the aforementioned potential benefits and estimate the payback period to justify additional cost investment. Given that prior literature focuses on cars as the primary electric vehicle, the feasibility of extending this model to small-scale electric vehicles such as e-rollers is evaluated and confirmed through an experiment. Based on the experiment’s findings, a survey is undertaken to assess the willingness of students and young professionals to opt into such a model using a combination of plug-in PV installation and e-rollers enabled with bidirectional charging. The survey shows a high degree of willingness from participants, with requests to extend to e-bikes, which fit the ownership model better than e-rollers, which are primarily rented.