Whole-system Benefits of Vehicle-to-Grid Services from Electric Vehicle Fleets

This paper proposes a whole-system optimisation framework to assess the economic and environmental implications of supplying electricity to electric vehicle (EV) fleets across different charging scenarios, including unmanaged, smart and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging. Case studies carried out for the 2025 and 2030 UK power system scenarios suggest that the incremental cost of supplying fleet EVs can be reduced several times if vehicles follow a smart rather than an unmanaged charging regime. Implementing V2G solutions can deliver both net cost savings to the system as well as a reduction in system carbon emissions due to reduced requirements for electricity infrastructure capacity, improved integration of renewable energy and more efficient provision of frequency regulation services. Cost savings and carbon emission reduction per vehicle in the V2G case can reach up to £885 per EV per year and 243 gCO
₂
per km, respectively, with the greatest benefits observed in scenarios with high renewable penetration and low uptake of other flexible options.