Hyundai has launched a new mobility project in Utrecht, the Netherlands, together with mobility provider We Drive Solar, through which it will deploy 25 units of its Ioniq 5 electric model that will be able to store sustainable energy thanks to Vehicle-to-Car technology. Grid (V2G).
Hyundai has indicated that, through this project, Utrecht intends to become the first city in the world to deploy this technology on a large scale and to become the world’s first two-way region.
“Thanks to this technology, We Drive Solar will be able to use the vehicles to store sustainable energy on a large scale, going from 25 to 150 Ioniq 5 units this year,” explained the director of We Drive Solar, Robin Berg. “Together with Hyundai, we will make Utrecht the world’s first city and region with a two-way energy ecosystem,” he added.
“At Hyundai, we believe that two-way charging can turn electric vehicles into flexible resources,” said Michael Cole, President and CEO of Hyundai Europe.
A two-way ecosystem allows electric car batteries to be used as a buffer in a sustainable grid system in which solar and wind power are the main energy sources. Only with this large-scale storage is it possible to wean completely off dependence on fossil fuels.
As a provider of shared electric cars, We Drive Solar is involved in a large number of new build projects in the Netherlands.
In this sense, Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 model will serve as a two-way production car. This means that the batteries in the model will be used on a large scale as sustainable energy storage (V2G).
Vehicle-to-Grid technology
V2G offers many benefits for the power grid and the environment. At peak times, when large amounts of energy are consumed, electric cars can also feed power back into the power grid.
In addition, electric cars can supply electricity to houses and buildings. Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) is the general term used to describe the added value of electric cars when they are not used for what they are primarily intended for: driving. In addition to Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, there are also Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) and Vehicle-to-Building (V2B) technologies.
The more energy generated from renewable energy sources is used, the more V2G technology will help reduce the impact of climate change. By relying on energy – generated from solar or wind power – that is stored in the battery packs of electric cars, it reduces reliance on fossil fuel-powered plants, which cause more pollution and higher fuel prices. energy during peak hours.
