In June 2019, Renault launched the EV Smart Energy Station at its Technocentre, the result of the work of a consortium of 9 entities, including Schneider Electric and Trialog. The ambition of the device is to test and validate smarter, but also more ecofriendly, charging and energy management solutions.
On the 12th of September, Think Smartgrids organized a conference in partnership with the French Energy Regulatory Commission on the theme of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, with the presentation of innovative use cases, including the EV smart energy station, presented by Yasmine Assef, Director of Renault’s New Business Energy & Recharge Infrastructures programme, and Mourad Tiguercha, Director of Electric Mobility and Cyber Security Activities at Trialog.
The EV Smart Energy Station provides energy thanks to a shade of photovoltaic panels and two second life batteries from Kangoo ZE. A management system (EMS) manages the rapid recharge (22 kW) to ensure the most relevant energy flow: directly through the panels, or, in economic mode, through the panels during the day and at night through the batteries. Any loss is also avoided thanks to algorithms that distribute energy between the charging station and the Technocentre’s electrical network. The objective is to eventually deploy on a larger scale an intelligent and ecological ecosystem for recharging electric vehicles.
The EV smart energy station project shows that the development of electric mobility requires the involvement of a whole ecosystem, from vehicle manufacturers to charging station and electricity grid operators, but also energy suppliers and end customers. It is also essential to anticipate future uses and technologies, as well as to work on issues related to the standardization of charging station deployments and the interoperability of systems and services.
On this occasion, Alain Rolland, founder of Stations-e, a member of Think Smartgrids, also presented the innovative charging station deployment model designed by the startup, which guarantees totally free access to local authorities by tying other services to the station (4G/5G, IdO, energy storage, logistics services…).
The cost of deployment and the profitability of models is indeed a key issue to ensure the success of electric mobility.