This week marked the completion of the REVS project – the largest demonstration of vehilce-to-grid technology in Australia and foundational research on the integration of electric vehicles into the grid and people’s lives.
Some of the media stories from the wrap up event below:
A “provocation” is my new favorite form of publication!
This article in Utility Magazine was a real pleasure to write and condenses many recent discussions.
Our main takeaway is this: “Our experience to date suggests that V2G may stand to be of greatest attraction “for the grid” and that there is much to be done “by the grid” to accelerate this innovation becoming a seamless part of the electric vehicle experience.”
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In research commissioned by ARENA and the Distributed Energy Integration Program, we’ve analysed the gaps in knowledge and current activities around the integration of electric vehicles (of all sizes) into the electricity system.
The executive summary is below and the full report is available here.
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We have a new paper in the journal Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions.
From James Purtill in the ABC
A new kind of charger that allows an electric vehicle (EV) to be used as a giant home battery is close to going on sale in Australia, with the first commercial shipment to arrive within weeks.
Unlike standard one-way EV chargers, bidirectional chargers can also discharge energy from an EV, which means they can be used to power a home (known as vehicle-to-home or V2H) and its appliances, or to export energy to the grid (vehicle-to-grid or V2G).
This may sound simple, but bringing them to Australia has proven difficult.
For years, a mix of regulatory and engineering hurdles have repeatedly pushed back the technology’s rollout date.
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Our recently released Lessons Learnt Report for the REVS V2G project contains lots of honest reflection about working on technology innovation projects – we think many will find it an interesting read.
ABC TV’s Catalyst program was one of my favorite TV shows growing up, so it was a bit of a dream to get to be a part of the recent episode about the transformation of the electricity system.
The episode did a fantastic job, covering a huge range of the interesting developments underway across the system and the country, explaining the crucial facts and trends, and presenting everything in interesting, engaging and understandable ways.
So, I’d highly recommend giving watching here https://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/the-grid-powering-the-future/13491654
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A very well researched piece by James Purtill for Catalyst in ABC Online https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-08-10/v2g-vehicle-to-grid-pays-ev-owners-for-electricity/100353072
Until recently, Gary Hogben did not expect he would ever be paid to simply plug his car into the wall every night.
And yet, over the past year, that’s exactly what’s happened. He and his wife have earned more than $1,000 while their car sits in the driveway.
The service is called V2G, or “vehicle to grid”, and it could be an important component of Australia’s electricity grid in coming years, plus a way for car owners to make a little extra income.
The concept is fairly straightforward: electric vehicles (EVs) are essentially very large batteries on wheels. Most of the time they sit idle.
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