Contribution of Driving Efficiency and Vehicle-to-Grid to Eco-Design

Abstract

Designing eco-friendly products involves energy efficiency improvements. Eco-friendly products must consider not only raw materials and manufacturing processes to improve energy efficiency but also energy needed when designing them. This research shows how eco-routing (ER), eco-charging (EC), eco-driving (EDR), vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and electric vehicles (EVs) can contribute to the reduction of energy consumption during product design. To do this, a group of 44 engineers assigned to the project was chosen to assess the total energy available for V2G when driving EVs from their homes to the design center by using ER, ED and EC by running an application coded by the authors. The energy stored in EVs was used to quantify the reduction in energy consumption of the buildings present in the design center. The results show that the energy saving ranges from 2.89% to 6.9% per day—in other words, 93 kWh per day during the design process. In addition, the fact of making the design process greener implies that renewable energies (REs) are integrated better during the design process. By running the application, drivers are informed about the RE mix when the charging process takes place. Finally, this research shows that current policies make V2G and vehicle-to-home techniques not compatible.

Communications and Data Science for the Success of Vehicle-to-Grid Technologies: Current State and Future Trends

“…Regarding VE setup, the geographical dispersion and limited capacity of individual EV batteries hinder providing reliable and consistent energy at a large scale [197]. A solution proposed in the literature for more efficient V2G involves heavy-duty EV fleets (buses, trucks, etc.)…”

“…V2G allows one to offset renewable source intermittency, maintaining grid stability and balancing energy supply and demand through controlled energy storage and release [190,191,196,197]. Furthermore, V2G enables the establishment of more sustainable microgrids, where local renewable energy sources combine with storage via electric vehicles to meet local demands [190,191,196,197]. Moreover, regional influences (energy mix, number of EVs, EV and energy hourly profile, etc.)…”

“…The successful implementation of V2G for individual electric vehicles faces multiple challenges, such as battery degradation concerns [187,194], sensitivity to V2G contract constraints [187,197], and uncertainty about vehicle availability for V2G operations [187,197]. The lack of sustainable business models and specific regulatory incentives limits its adoption [188,195] while concerns about cybersecurity [188,197] and the lack of accurate models for predicting energy consumption pose technical challenges [197]. Socioeconomic and political aspects influence user understanding of benefits [189,192] and profitability [190].…”

“…The adoption of V2G by individual users is affected by distrust [191], high inconvenient costs [186], and uncertainty about the economic benefits [189,197]. All these challenges hinder the successful implementation of V2G systems for individual electric vehicles [193].…”

“…Challenges in Environmental Impact Assessment V2G systems help reduce the environmental impact of electric vehicle systems [186,189,191,193,194,197]. However, studies like [186,189,191,193,194,197] suggest that accurately assessing V2G's environmental impact requires a comprehensive approach, considering not only the vehicle's direct emissions but also grid management, battery durability and lifespan, charging patterns, vehicle battery management, and the accuracy of simulation models. Similarly, ref.…”