V2X Monitor

Bidirectional charging enables electric vehicles to draw power and feed it back into the grid or use it for other purposes, such as domestic power supply. Vehicle-to-everything, or V2X for short, combines all possible use cases for bidirectional charging, from vehicle-to-home (V2H) to vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G). Bidirectional electric vehicles contribute to the integration of renewable energies on the system side, to the flexibility of the electricity grid, and to the stabilization of grid operation, while customers can save costs simultaneously.

The aim of the V2X Monitor is to show the progress of V2X technology in Germany by bringing together relevant data and indicators. To this end, the monitor looks at the three categories of vehicles & charging stations, market, and standards & regulations. The categories are classified according to red, yellow, and green levels. The FfE has defined various criteria for evaluating the categories, which are updated at regular intervals.

Vehicles and charging stations

Available bidirectional vehicles:

Very few V2X-capable bidirectional electric vehicles on the German market already have the full range of functions for use cases. To date, some manufacturers only offer vehicle-to-load (V2L), whereby an external electronic device can be charged, or designate their vehicles as “bidi-ready,” which means that the function will be available via an update in the future. Individual V2X vehicles, such as the Renault 5, are expected at the earliest in late 2024 or early 2025.

Number of bidirectional vehicles

As described above, there are almost no V2X-capable bidirectional electric vehicles, so the distribution is nearly zero. However, the following shows the currently approved numbers of model series that already support V2H or V2L and have the potential to be enabled for V2X in the future, e.g., through software updates. The data is based on KBA data.

Available bidirectional charging stations

The supply of bidirectional charging stations is similar to that of vehicles. A few bidirectional charging stations or EVSEs are available, but these cost significantly more than the unidirectional ones. It can be assumed that many more manufacturers will sell their bidirectional EVSEs in 2024.

[5] 0,9613 EUR/CHF (01.08.23)

[6] Nur US-Markt

[7]1,0976 EUR/USD (01.08.23)

[8] 0,8605 EUR/GBP (01.08.23)

Number of bidirectional charging stations

There are almost no V2X-capable bidirectional electric vehicles, and purchasing a bidirectional charging station or wall box is associated with very high additional costs; the spread of bidirectional charging stations is also close to zero.

Existing obstacles/conclusion

There are still few providers of bidirectional electric vehicles and charging stations, and the vehicles are often only V2L-capable. Charging stations currently still incur high additional costs when purchased. Many brands have announced bidirectional series vehicles for 2025/2026. Therefore, the number on German roads will increase significantly over the next two years.

Market

Market access for bidirectional electric vehicles

Bidirectional electric vehicles can easily be marketed on electricity markets via aggregators. Access to the primary balancing market has yet to be available, as prequalification is still pending. Various pilot projects, such as the unIT-e² research project, have successfully demonstrated the use case. Therefore, this is expected to soon be possible in actual operation.

Possible revenues

After the extreme price increases in 2022, triggered in particular by a reduction and ultimately a complete suspension of Russian gas imports to Germany, prices fell significantly in 2023. Despite the sharp fall in prices overall, 2023 saw significant price spreads due to the high number of negative prices on the one hand and prices well into the triple digits on the other, albeit smaller spreads than in 2022. The price spreads will likely continue to offer considerable revenue potential in 2024.

Available time-variable tariffs

So far, there are no special tariffs for bidirectional charging in Germany. Although there are isolated solutions from, e.g., E3/DC & VW for vehicle-to-home (V2H) applications, there are no V2X offers. In the UK, there is an initial bidi tariff from Oktopus Energy, albeit with severe technical requirements and user behavior restrictions, similar to the E3/DC & VW solution. In general, dynamic electricity tariffs suitable for bidirectional electric vehicles still need to be more widespread in Germany. Ultimately, this is also due to Germany’s long-delayed smart meter rollout. From 1 January 2025, energy suppliers will be obliged to introduce time-variable or dynamic tariffs. New players such as Tibber, 1KOMMA5°, Oststrom, and Octopus dominate the market, while large energy suppliers are still waiting in the wings.

Standards & regulation

Establishment of relevant standards

ISO 15118-20 is the standard for communication between vehicles and charging stations or EVSE and enables bidirectional charging. Despite the release over 2 years ago, there is still room for interpretation in the implementation, which means that not all bidirectional vehicles will soon be compatible with any bidirectional EVSE.

The Open Charge Point Protocol is widely used to control a charging station via a backend connection. The latest version, OCPP 2.1, supports bidirectional charging but has been awaiting release for a long time. Bidirectional charging is also possible via OCPP 2.0.1, but only with the help of proprietary adjustments to the protocol.

Bidirectional electric vehicles can also be integrated into a home energy management system via VDE-AR-E 2829-6, also known as EEBus. The bidirectional use cases have also been finalized but have not been published.

Current regulatory developments

In the current regulatory framework, bidirectional charging electric vehicles are classified as electricity generators and end consumers. Electricity temporarily stored in a vehicle’s battery is generally not subject to exemption from taxes, levies, and surcharges. This is because bidirectional charging often only meets some exemptions intended to avoid a double charge for intermediate storage. As a result, electricity tax and grid fees have to be paid twice, and the additional revenue is almost entirely used up. According to the Electricity Tax Act and the Electricity Grid Charges Ordinance, only “stationary” storage facilities are exempt from this double taxation. The industry hopes this will be revised soon to put them on an equal footing with stationary battery storage systems.

Furthermore, storage losses should also be taken into account for bidirectional vehicles. Measurement and billing concepts should be revised and simplified to this end. One positive example is the abolition of the EEG levy, which simplifies billing concepts.

Existing obstacles/conclusion

The scope for interpretation in existing standards should be closed across all sectors to enable interoperable plug-and-play solutions. Flawless interaction between electric vehicles and charging stations (and other components) from different manufacturers ultimately increases customer acceptance. Although a revision of double taxation is a prospect, reliable planning certainty for the players is needed shortly