Should we see this as concrete progress? For the first time in France, a Renault employee connected his vehicle to the electricity network in Yvelines in February. The Renault 5 is the first model marketed with a bidirectional charger to supply the network (V2G, for “vehicle-to-grid”) or his house (V2H for “vehicle-to-home”).
“It’s a first test”confirms Pierre de Firmas, director of electric mobility at Enedis, the main manager of the electricity distribution network, partner of the operation, specifying that around fifteen others are in progress with the diamond brand: “Only a few prototypes are running to date. »
Still in its infancy in France, this technology makes it possible to connect electric cars to the network or to homes not only to charge, as is the case today, but also to serve as a means of producing electricity with the vehicle’s battery. to avoid straining the network.
“A lever of flexibility”
In France, the number of hybrid and electric vehicles could reach 17 million by 2035. “With the generalization of electric mobility, this will become a lever of flexibility for the network and this service will be paid for by vehicle owners”, underlines François Legalland, director of the Innovation Laboratory for new energy technologies and nanomaterials, a research institute of the Atomic Energy Commission. In California, many Tesla users already have solar production on their roof and who optimize it by using their car’s battery.
“V2G makes your eyes shine”, concedes Pierre de Firmas to underline the appeal aroused by this innovation. However, according to him, we should not underestimate the simple methods of managing charging which will further optimize the cost for users and the community. One option would be, for example, to automate its triggering during off-peak hours as is currently done with the 11 million hot water tanks. “In the end, if we succeed in this operation, we will save 10 gigawatts at peak consumption”estimates this expert.