EV integration in smart grids through interoperability solutions

The high total cost of ownership and the uncertainties surrounding battery reliability are still the main barriers for electric vehicle (EV) market take off in Europe. Storage evolution, leading to both price reduction and performance improvement, is a huge technical challenge in the medium-long term. In the meantime, new business models and market niche developments might play a facilitator role for EV deployment by tackling the economic gap between conventional ICE and electromobility (e-mobility) solutions. Based on the analysis of the state of the art, this paper considers new business model aspects, but with an especial focus on smart grid integration and interoperability. Available solutions for electro-mobility are sketched out and presented according to the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM), giving hints on regulation, business, services, components and communication and information. The smart grid integration of EVs is highly dependent on the interoperability of e-mobility solutions with electric network management procedures. In addition, it is expected that the interoperability between different e-mobility developments results in lower prices and extended services availability for final users. This makes this subject to be of great importance at international level. To achieve this, it is necessary to be able to assess interoperability, not only at the level of physical systems but at all domains, including stakeholder interactions in the frame of a broad diversity of services, business models and regulatory schemes. COTEVOS project aim is to help tackle this challenge.