Technology and functionality required to enable bidirectional charging

Abstract: This thesis consists of a comprehensive review of bidirectional charging technology, with focus on understanding the technical requirements and the challenges that has to be overcome to standardize this innovation. The thesis is based on three main objectives or goals that is needed to be able to answer the main review question which is: What does it take to standardize, develop and make bidirectional charging a reliable technology? The first objective is to review and explain how the technical bidirectional charging ecosystem works. It starts by explaining in detail how bidirectional charging works and looking closely at how the charging station, electric vehicle (EV), and the power grid connect and work together. The second objective consist of exploring the challenges and the benefits of bidirectional charging. The main challenges explored are social challenges, regulatory challenges, technical challenges and battery degradation. The main benefits explored in this thesis are: offloading the power grid, environmentally friendlier benefits, economic benefits and better management of renewable home systems. The third and final objective in this thesis covers a surveying of existing bidirectional charging products and solutions like Fords F-150 lightning V2G technology and CHAdeMO 2.0. Explaining what they are and their potential success in the European market. The thesis concludes by addressing and discussing the central researched question, which indicates that bidirectional charging is still a young technology that needs to overcome many challenges and improve in some areas before it can be widely used by consumers in a safe and effective way. The results show that the speed and success of the development of this technology depend on how well the actors and stakeholders cooperate with each other and how fast the regulations and standards evolve. EU and Swedish regulations need to keep developing standards for better interoperability. This will help create a legislation for independent market players and key stakeholders, making it easier for them to interact and make compatible products. Therefore, the research done in this thesis suggests that in order to standardize bidirectional charging, different actors, stakeholders and regulatory organizations need to work together better in the future to make V2X safe, standardized and interoperable. There are very few V2G solutions available for customers today, but with the cooperation of key actors, new ISO standards and EV manufacturers making more compatible cars, this technology has the potential to become more accessible in the upcoming years.