E-vehicles require a lot of energy, but can also make a valuable contribution to balancing the electricity grid. In recent months, Salzburg Research has invited people to submit ideas for smart energy sharing and new business models in an open innovation ideas competition. The best ideas were awarded prizes.

E-vehicles can be part of the solution to bridge power grid fluctuations and energy bottlenecks. Through smart flexible charging, the charging process can be controlled so that the vehicle is charged during times of favourable grid or market conditions. When conditions are unfavourable, the charging process is stopped. In addition, bidirectional charging also allows energy from the battery to be fed back into the grid when needed. This helps to keep the entire power grid stable and to temporarily store surplus electricity.

The crowd’s ideas on smart charging

But what motivates owners of electric vehicles to make their batteries available for smart/intelligent charging? How can consumers be supported so that they align their charging behaviour more closely with the needs of the electricity grid? What (new) services, cooperation opportunities or business models will emerge from smart charging?

Salzburg Research asked for ideas from the community by means of an open innovation ideas competition. In this crowdsourcing, all ideas are welcome – regardless of whether the idea providers have previous knowledge in the subject area or not. Both the community and a top-class jury of experts then evaluated the submissions. The best ideas were awarded prizes on 23 February 2023 in MoonCity Salzburg.

Ideas will be incorporated into an European research project

The ideas from this open innovation process will flow into the international research work as scenarios and business opportunities. In “GAMES – Grid Aware Mobility and Energy Sharing”, the researchers focus on the question of how mobility needs can be satisfied by means of digitalisation of electric shared vehicle fleets and how new sources of revenue can be created at the same time by providing services for electricity grid operators and energy communities.

For details on the winning ideas, see press release (in German): Energie smart teilen: Die besten Ideen zu bidirektionalem Laden von E-Fahrzeugen

Picture: Jury, organisers and prize winners of the Open Innovation Competition on the topic of smart charging of e-vehicles (from left to right): Guntram Preßmair (e7 energy innovation & engineering), Stefan Linecker (Salzburg Research), Sandra Schäfer (Salzburg AG), Lisa Wolf (Green Energy Lab), Diana Wieden-Bischof (Salzburg Research), award winner Andreas Schöfegger, Mario Grassl (Sustainable Earth Logic GmbH), Christine Scharinger (Scharinger Consulting e.U.), Siegfried Reich (Salzburg Research).