Small vans for deliveries in cities are always parked at night at the same place at defined times. If they have an electrical drive, they can then store electricity from renewable energy sources and contribute to buffering of the electricity grid. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment plans to support the development of just such an electric vehicle by an Osnabrück-based automobile manufacturer to the tune of 9.5 million euros.

As part of the project which will run until the end of 2011, electric vehicles operated by Deutsche Post and other users will be involved in field tests in Berlin. Electric vehicles are particularly well-suited for commercial transport use. The distances covered every day are generally low – for example, a post-office vehicle covers around 30 to 40 kilometres per day. The limited range of a battery-electric drive is thus not a problem. Electrical drives have better efficiencies than combustion engines for the frequent starting and stopping common when making deliveries. The project is part of the German federal government’s electromobility research programme.

Information and communications technology (ICT) plays a particularly important role here, as it creates the prerequisites for the integration of electric vehicles into energy-supply systems. Using the so-called “Energy Internet”, electric cars can report their current location, how strongly charged their battery is, and at which point in time the battery is to have a certain specified charging level. Based on this communication with generation systems and other electricity grid equipment, renewable energy sources can then be favoured in the supply of electricity.

E-Energy: On the way to the “Energy Internet”

With its “E-Energy” support project, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology in partnership with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety is promoting the development of an ICT-based energy system that can be applied to the entire electricity supply system. Those interested can find further information at www.e-energy.de.

Virtual power plant – Topic on BINE Information Service

A current research topic is the optimal integration of decentralised power generators and consumers into the low-voltage grid in the future. The BINE ‘Projektinfo’ 02/2008 entitled “Electricity grid quality – grid integration of decentralised power generators” describes how researchers plan to implement this type of bi-directional energy management system.

Those interested can obtain further information on current projects from the area of energy research by reconfiguring their free BINE subscription.