Anyone who drives an electric car should also be able to use their vehicle as an electricity storage device in the future: Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to enable so-called bidirectional charging from next year, in which the electricity from the car flows back into the network, as the minister said on Wednesday explained on the sidelines of a meeting with representatives of the automotive and energy industries in Berlin. Electric car owners could save money this way. The Federal Ministry of Economics distinguishes between three types of bidirectional charging. In the simplest version, devices such as an e-bike or an electric grill can be connected to the car for charging via a conventional socket; the car battery functions as a rechargeable battery. According to information from Habeck’s ministry, this is already possible in the case of some electric cars. Electric cars could also store excess electricity from a solar system on the roof and send it back to the house when the electricity is needed. According to estimates from the Federal Ministry of Economics, consumers could save money because they do not have to buy additional grid electricity. To do this, however, they need a device that is not yet available as standard, which converts the direct current from the car back into alternating current for the alternating current for the socket. More on the topic Even more complicated is using the electric car as a storage device, which then feeds electricity back into the grid. The idea: Consumers could buy cheap electricity and put it back into the grid when prices rise, through a third-party provider. The prerequisite for this is a variable tariff, which is based on the fluctuating prices of the electricity market instead of a fixed price. According to Economics Minister Habeck, car manufacturers and energy companies should meet the technical conditions for bidirectional charging from next year. “As mobile electricity storage devices, electric cars can make an enormous contribution to stabilizing the electricity system,” he emphasized on Wednesday. “This is a real win-win situation,” he added, referring to possible savings opportunities for electric car owners.
Go to Source