E-mobility and Smart Charging

In its Energy Union Communication, the European Commission announces determined action towards achieving an energy efficient, decarbonised transport sector and European leadership in electro mobility and energy storage technologies.  It promotes a gradual transformation of the entire transport system, as well as the increased development and deployment of the necessary alternative fuels infrastructure, such as refuelling and recharging stations.  Europe’s engineering industries represented by Orgalime are ready to support such a transformation and have provided their recommendations for a rapid and successful implementation of the Directive 2014/94/EU on the Deployment of Alternative Fuels Infrastructure, which we support as a key policy instrument in this area, including for the promotion of smart charging.

Orgalime believes that the basic infrastructure for charging electrical vehicles is already available unlike for other alternative fuel technologies.  Nevertheless, the electrical infrastructure needs some adaptations to be prepared for mass deployment of electrical vehicles.  Our industries possess system level expertise in all parts of the E-mobility value chain to integrate electrical vehicles into modern infrastructures, offering convenient solutions for customers.

Charging an electrical vehicle (EV) is similar to any other electrical load for the grids but it needs to be managed to avoid increasing peak load.  Smart charging functions are a key enabler for energy management in homes and buildings as well as in public charging stations.  Moreover, when the smart charging system is embedded into a smart grid, it will facilitate a balanced integration of renewable energy into the electricity grid and help to limit peak demand of electricity for EV. 

Member states, we therefore believe, should take fully into account smart charging ( as defined by the CEN-CENELEC-ETSI smart charging working group) for electric vehicles and its functions regarding the deployment of recharging infrastructure for both, public and private users, when implementing Directive 2014/94/EU and when establishing any new government scheme under the future Energy Union. 

Orgalime’s key recommendation is to ensure that investment made in the next few years, as a result of Directive 2014/94/EU and member states’ initiatives, are conducted wisely and in the knowledge and recognition of the growing potentials and benefits of energy management and of the need to minimise the impact of EV charging on the grid when the growth of EVs reaches a critical level.  This can be done by building business cases now, which will drive future investment [more in download]