Are electric car owners dancing to the tunes of the local power grid?

The project aims to increase knowledge of electricity consumers' view on their role in future sustainable energy systems, and in doing so focuses on their drivers and barriers to contributing in the maintaining of balance between power supply and demand in local electricity grids.

The proportion of electric cars in Sweden must increase to accelerate the transition to a completely fossil-free energy system. However, if the electric cars are not charged in a smart way, they can contribute to a higher risk of power and capacity shortages in the energy system.

By promoting charging of electric car batteries when the supply and capacity of the electric energy system is high, electric cars can instead contribute with demand flexibility and thereby maintain the balance between supply and demand in a future energy system (see for example Alvehag et al, 2016). With vehicle to grid technology (V2G technology), ie technology that enables the transfer of energy from electric car batteries to the electricity grid, electric cars can also contribute to grid utility by increasing the supply of energy in the electricity grid at critical times.

The empirical starting point for the study is the mobility house Dansmästaren, which is expected to be part of the solution to the capacity shortage in Uppsala.