E-Mobility Layered Model (Simplified)
Layer 1 consist of electric vehicles and the infrastructure required to fuel (charge) them including capabilities to control them remotely.
Layer 2 is that of intelligently integrating the electric transportation sector with the electric grid through smart standardized communications protocols . This is known as Vehicle Grid Integration (VGI). This layer also consist of rules and regulations to make the two sectors work in harmony.
Layer 3 consist of services that can be provided by the service providers. This is the application layer where grid services and behind-the-meter services as well as e-Mobility services in general resides.
Vehicle Grid Integration (VGI)
How to intelligently integrate the electric transport system into the electric power system in ways that they work in harmony which benefit both.
CAISO has coined the term VGI as:
“Vehicle-Grid Integration (VGI) can harness the usage characteristics of and technologies within PEVs to allow them to serve as a grid asset, reducing operating costs for facility and vehicle owners, the utilities’ distribution maintenance requirements, and energy prices in the wholesale market. The size of the vehicle resource and the fact that its primary purpose is for transportation creates special limitations on how this resource can be deployed.”
As part of VGI other terms are typically used such as:
The V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) term is often used to describe that aggregated EVs are exchanging bi-directional power flow with the grid.
The V1G term is often used to describe that an EV can only receive energy from the grid (uni-directional power flow)
The term V2H (Vehicle-to-Home) is often used to describe that a bi-directional EV can exchange power with a home in case of power blackouts or be used to lower the electricity bill by charging when power is cheap and discharging to the home when power is expensive.