Joint EU-US technical Recommendations for ‘Future Public Demonstrations of Vehicle-Grid Integration Pilots’ have been developed in consultation with government departments, industry, and grid-service stakeholders.

With a view to informing strategically targeted public funding in the field, the recommendations propose development of best practices, including use of common definitions and project outcome tables and definition of harmonized technical interfaces that would support communication and coordination across the Atlantic and help inform the development of larger-scale demonstration projects and programmes.

These Recommendations complement the ‘Transatlantic Technical Recommendations for Government Funded Implementation of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure’ which were delivered for TTC4 (May 2023 at Luleå, Sweden).

Together, the two sets of recommendations can benefit companies, end users and transatlantic trade - supporting the expansion of e-mobility as well as U.S. and EU clean energy and de-carbonization commitments.

They were developed following Stakeholder events, with industry expert participation, held in October 2022 (hosted by the European Joint Research Centre at Ispra) and September 2023 (hosted by Argonne National Lab in the USA). With a view to broader public understanding of the work, explanatory infographics were also published.

What is Vehicle-grid integration?

Vehicle-grid integration broadly refers to the end-to-end considerations for connecting vehicles with the electric grid, including aligning the grid’s physical infrastructure, regulatory framework, and market design with the charging network. The new transatlantic recommendations report focuses on the technical underpinning of VGI, i.e., implementation of standardised connectivity and communication between electric vehicles, the charging infrastructure, and the power grid to enable vehicle charging/discharging while recognising the capabilities and requirements of the grid. VGI spans the spectrum of vehicle interactions with charging infrastructure, ranging from controlled charging to smart charge management, including bidirectional charging.