Mobility

The first stream withing PATHFNDR (Pathways to an efficient future energy system through flexibility and sector coupling) uses qualitative methods. 

• Electromobility has high potential for decarbonizing the transport sector in Switzerland. The trend towards battery-electric vehicles is gradually gaining ground in private transport. The transition is proceeding more slowly in road-based cargo transport as different technologies (hydrogen, battery-electric, synthetic fuels) for heavy goods vehicles are still in competition.
• We are investigating both markets. In the case of private transportation, we examined how Tesla managed to gain market share in the gasoline and diesel-dominated market by shifting the consumer evaluations of sustainable innovations through product design and blame avoidance. In the case of heavy transportation, we are comparing competing technologies and their adoption by focusing on the availability of technology and energy, infrastructure, and policy.

The second stream within PATHFNDR uses quantitative modelling.

• Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) has high technical potential to support the grid in Switzerland and help integrate renewables, but there has been limited private deployment. High station costs and electricity tariff designs have made V2G unprofitable for aggregators. We investigate the use of policy tools like subsidies or network rate reimbursements to make V2G profitable in Switzerland and encourage widespread deployment.
• Recent research has found that wider deployment of daytime charging infrastructure at workplaces or public locations could improve the grid integration of electric passenger vehicles. What policies can the government use to shape deployment of stations by the private sector toward that goal? We investigate the role of different firm attitudes and interactions to inform station incentives and policymaking in Switzerland.
• Further, we investigate how charging plug-in behaviour patterns could impact long-term electricity system planning.

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Charging infrastructure can be an important long-term tool for flexibility: changing where drivers plug-in to charge their electric vehicles also changes the time of day and impacts the electricity grid. We study the German electricity system with a detailed model of plug-in behaviours to understand how charging infrastructure policies should be used to shape future charging demand.

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The overall goal was to asses how the increasing share of EVs can be beneficially integrated into distribution grids. In doing so, the project focused on identify enablers and barriers, the interplay between different EV dis-/charging strategies and consumer behaviours, and different incentives affecting the integration of EVs as a flexibility option.

• While current trials for bidirectional charging mostly focus on commercial EVs that charge at work and the provision of vehicle-to-customer and transmission grid services, broader combinations are expected to reduce risks such as market risks or the dependence on the behavior of specific EV user groups and allow for higher revenues.
• Technical, social, and regulatory challenges that hamper further V2X implementation have to be removed. Among the most critical barriers that we also consider relevant for Switzerland are uncertainties regarding the design of market structures or other mechanisms (e.g., tariffs, tenders, auctions) to acquire flexibility at distribution-grid level, future flexibility supply and demand, and the EV users’ willingness to participate in V2G including the effect(s) of corresponding incentives.

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