At the beginning of June I attended the “Utrecht Energized” extravaganza at the Jaarbeurs Convention Centre in the heart of Utrecht in the Netherlands. According to Renault’s press release about the event:

Renault Group, MyWheels and We Drive Solar, together with the Municipality of Utrecht, announce the go-live of Europe’s first large‑scale Vehicle‑to‑Grid (V2G) car‑sharing service: Utrecht energized. The initiative supports a more sustainable, efficient energy system in a city where 35 % of rooftops are already fitted with solar panels. Thanks to the V2G technology, electric vehicles can store energy and feed it back to the local grid during peak periods, so renewable power remains available around the clock. By combining a shared‑mobility service with advanced technology, the project keeps the local grid in balance while accelerating the transition to sustainable urban transport.

Here’s Renault Nederland’s brief promotional video:

More about all that in due course, but first of all please note these paragraphs from the press release:

While the technology is market-ready and offers significant benefits – including grid flexibility, reduced energy costs for EV owners, and a lower total cost of ownership – unlocking this potential requires overcoming current regulatory and technical barriers.

Renault Group calls for clear and consistent regulations across Europe, encompassing fiscal incentives, grid fee revisions, streamlined certification processes, and support for smart meter deployment. These measures are crucial to unlocking the potential of V2G and making it a cornerstone of a faster and more sustainable energy transition. Ultimately, this will contribute to turning every EV into a grid asset and powering a faster, smarter shift to a sustainable energy ecosystem.

Then also watch this really rather good video from Imogen Bhogal on the Everything Electric Show’s YouTube channel, in which Jérôme Faton of Mobilize Energy explains the problem:

Just over 8 minutes in Jérôme says:

For the UK, obviously, we’re actively working with our local teams to try to unlock the different barriers. I cannot give you an exact data so far. What I can tell you is that the UK is one of the countries that we want to prioritise for the roll out of V2G in Europe.

Renault clearly wants to stay ahead of the competition. We believe it’s a strong advantage to accelerate the growth of EVs, and we want to launch this service in the UK as soon as possible. As soon as the conditions are met.

And what are the right conditions? According to Imogen at ~ 4 mins 30 secs:

Vehicle-to-grid has to contend with an electricity grid that simply wasn’t designed for two way flow of electricity. It also has to deal with acceptance challenges, around battery health and being left with zero range, and drivers need to be adequately compensated to even be bothered to use a V2G charger.

Of course there’s the myriad of stakeholders. We’re talking utility providers, the grid, the OEMs, the cities, the charging providers, and they all need to be brought into the value of this, to recognise the paradigm shift that vehicle-to-grid represents between energy and mobility, and how they relate to each other.

Getting back to the potential advantages of V2G technology for the humble “consumer”, at ~ 9 mins 35 secs Jérôme says:

Using vehicle-to-grid and plugging [in] the car to give energy back to the network has a massive advantage to the customer. It is just to reduce his electricity bill. In France it’s up to 50% of the electricity bill, and it could be more in countries where there is less stability in the grid, and therefore more potential for services to the grid.

Returning to my own visit to Utrecht, here are the opening remarks of We Drive Solar’s Robin Berg at Utrecht Energized:

This is a special moment, 10 years in the making. In 2019 we had a moment with the Renault Zoe, and the King coming to the test. The collaboration with Renault started about a year before that, and these collaborations have really made this happen, and I’m so happy that today we can make the next step.

To be continued…