Data sharing for electric car charging

DeepDive podcast, accessible on Chrome

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/89f3364a-236d-418c-8d5a-6de363866cd8/audio

 

BRIEFING NOTE

Electric vehicle data sharing

Source:

Colangelo, G. and Ennis, S. (2022) "Energy Data Sharing and the Case of Electric Vehicles Smart Charging", with Giuseppe CERRE Report, 19 October. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4252503

 

Summary

This report examines the potential impact of data sharing on smart charging of electric vehicles , highlighting its essential role, particularly for bi-directional charging (V2G). It highlights the current regulatory ambiguity in the EU regarding this sharing and the need for clear rules to ensure choice and avoid data monopolization. The text explores technical and regulatory challenges , such as interoperability and cybersecurity, and presents various scenarios for bi-directional charging , emphasizing the importance of open standards and data access to maximize benefits for all actors and the energy network.

 

Key words:

Data sharing

Smart charging

Electric vehicles

Regulatory framework

V2G Challenges

 

Purpose: 

Review of the potential impacts of data sharing related to electric vehicle battery charging and electricity supply, with a focus on smart charging.

 

Approach:

This CERRE report examines the crucial role of data sharing in the implementation of smart charging of electric vehicles (EVs), both unidirectional and bidirectional (V2G). It highlights the current regulatory ambiguity in the EU regarding data sharing in this sector and the need for clear rules, either at the European or national level, to ensure choice and prevent data monopolization. The report explores various existing data sharing regimes in the EU and specific to the energy sector, the regulatory challenges associated with smart charging (APIs, standardization, interoperability, data protection, cybersecurity), and presents four potential scenarios for bidirectional smart charging, each with distinct implications for data flows and contracting. The authors emphasize the importance of ensuring interoperability, data protection, and adequate incentives for all actors to maximize the efficiency and benefits of smart charging for the overall energy system and consumers.

 

The Crucial Role of Data Sharing in Smart EV Charging:

 

The report highlights that data sharing frameworks are "key to the realization of smart charging initiatives." They provide "guidelines and protocols to ensure that stakeholders can share data securely and transparently."

 

Data sharing is essential for both one-way (coordinating charging rates and times) and two-way (allowing the battery to feed energy back into the grid) smart charging.

 

The data required includes battery information (state of charge, capacity, power setpoint), user needs (priority, price), location and tariff structure of the charging point.

 

Regulatory Ambiguity and the Need for Clear Frameworks:

 

The report comes at a time of "regulatory ambiguity in the EU about the nature of data sharing that will be involved in this industry and whether there will be EU or national rules that will ensure choice and prevent data monopolization."

 

Resolving this ambiguity is important because of the potential role of car batteries in storing variable renewable energy and feeding it back into the grid.

 

Bidirectional Charging (V2G) as an Asset for the Energy System:

 

Bidirectional charging allows EV batteries to function as a distributed energy source, capable of "charging at times of high supply capacity and low-cost generation... and then ceasing their charging to meet system balancing needs and ultimately contributing energy to the grid at times of scarce generation and high-cost generation."

 

EVs could represent considerable storage capacity (potentially 3,500 GWh with 50 million EVs within a decade, or 2 to 3 times the current hydraulic storage capacity in Europe).

 

V2G can enable arbitrage, potentially "helping to reduce the effective cost of car batteries."

 

Regulatory Challenges for Smart Charging:

 

APIs, Standardization, and Interoperability: The report highlights the heavy reliance on APIs as "a key factor in ensuring a healthy and efficient data-sharing ecosystem" in European legislative initiatives. However, the fragmentation of standards and specifications limits user choice and prevents them from benefiting from the diversity of smart charging services. "The lack of interoperability, due to different standards, limits user choice regarding where to charge and how to pay."

 

Data Protection and Cybersecurity: "Building trust, preventing data breaches, and ensuring cybersecurity are essential elements to facilitate data sharing." The sensitivity of data related to vehicle charging and usage requires robust safeguards. The principle of "cybersecurity by design" and "data protection by design and by default" (GDPR) is crucial.

 

EU and Energy Specific Data Sharing Regimes:

 

The EU has introduced various legislative initiatives to promote data sharing (GDPR, PSD2, Data Governance Regulation, Open Data Directive, DMA, Data Act).

 

The Data Act is particularly relevant because it explicitly includes vehicles within its scope and aims to ensure that data generated by their use is easily accessible to the user and authorized third parties.

 

Specific energy regulations introduce data sharing obligations for network operators (Regulation 2017/1485, Electricity Directive).

 

The proposed revisions to the RED and EPBD aim to ensure real-time access to battery data (state of health, state of charge, power setpoint, capacity) for owners, users, and third parties acting on their behalf, under non-discriminatory conditions and at no cost. The EPBD also highlights the role of buildings as places for prolonged parking of EVs and their relevance for energy system integration.

 

The AFIR proposal requires public charging points to be "smart charging capable" and "digitally connected," with static and dynamic data availability for all stakeholders.

 

Four Bidirectional Charging Scenarios:

 

The authors present four main scenarios to illustrate the different possible contractual paths between the battery owner and the users of the generated energy: 

 

* Scenario 1: Vehicle to grid: The individual car owner contracts directly with an open market for the purchase and sale of small-scale electricity. This scenario is "essentially hypothetical now" but could serve as "a backup bargaining position for car owners who might otherwise be limited in their transaction partners." It "engages the individual user in the transaction," potentially increasing comfort and willingness to transact. 

* Scenario 2: Vehicle to aggregator to grid: Individual car owners transact with "aggregators" or "virtual power plants" that organize smart charging and coordinate the supply of electricity to the grid. Competition among aggregators is expected to "help create multiple options for car owners." This scenario is deemed likely for the majority of owners. 

* Scenario 3: Vehicle to car manufacturer to grid: Individual car owners transact with virtual power plants organized by car manufacturers. This could lead to the adoption of "unique, proprietary standards for bidirectional smart charging" by manufacturers, limiting consumer choice. "Unless data and standards are made available to third parties, car manufacturers will be able to retain exclusive control over the arbitrage gains from bidirectional smart charging." This scenario is also considered likely for the majority of owners. 

* Scenario 4: Vehicle to user: Grid bypass: The car owner transacts directly with a user and supplies energy without using grid facilities (microgeneration, self-supply). If this were to become common, it could "have substantial effects on increasing grid costs, by reducing the number of users sharing grid costs."

 

Key Recommendations:

 

Require automakers to adopt open, portable standards for battery charging and discharging, with smart charging and V2G capabilities accessible to any third party chosen by the customer. Manufacturers should not circumvent these standards. Physical interfaces and cables should not restrict data flow.

 

Ensure that customers without a reasonable alternative are not locked into purchasing energy from a single charger that does not offer competitive rates by data systems. "Open data systems do not require a common communications standard, but rather open access to each standard."

 

Adopt the principle that data must be able to flow to and from contracting parties chosen by the vehicle operator and its agents.

 

Ensure that connection and payment standards allow for a choice of provider.

 

Ensure that confidentiality safeguards are in place to protect consumers' travel information.

 

Ensure sufficient transactional standards are in place for payment and volume monitoring to ensure energy payments are secure.

 

Avoid imposing obligations on suppliers to purchase from EVs so that EVs have to compete with other energy sources.

 

Additional Important Points:

 

Public charging points (along roads, at work, at home) have different V2G needs. Refueling stations may have a lower need for bidirectionality.

 

The deployment of smart charging may require improvements to network infrastructure in some countries, although current evidence suggests that existing networks can handle large-scale smart charging in many cases.

 

The profitability of charging stations is crucial to encourage private investment in infrastructure. Opening access to multiple electricity suppliers could reduce returns for intermediaries.

 

Battery life is a relevant economic factor, although current EV batteries are designed for a transport life that exceeds the number of cycles required for V2G in most cases.

 

Conclusion

This briefing summarizes the key points of CERRE's report on data sharing and smart EV charging. It highlights the significant opportunities offered by smart charging, the regulatory and technical challenges to be overcome, and the importance of a clear and competition-friendly framework to maximize benefits for the energy system and consumers.

 

Paper Summary Initial Draft By NotebookLM