ENTSO-E - Deployment of Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles and their Impact on the Power System

ENTSO-E Position Paper Deployment of Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles and their Impact on the Power System

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Executive Summary

ENTSO-E considers electromobility a powerful resource for both the decarbonisation of the transport sector and for contributing to the provision of flexibility services to the power system; an optimal vehicle-grid integration will contribute to the overall efficient planning and operation of a “System of systems”, with benefits for all involved actors (cfr. ENTSO-E`s Vision: A Power System for a Carbon Neutral Europe).

After passenger cars, Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDVs) are the second most CO2-emitting segment in the whole transport sector and, due to their business-oriented use cases, they are proving to be the fastest segment for approaching a decarbonisation strategy in a structural manner.

This Position Paper, focusing on Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles (HDEVs) for road transport (buses and trucks) and their impact on the Power System, complements the findings and call for actions from the previous ENTSO-E Position Paper published in 2021 on “Electric Vehicle Integration into Power Grids”  .
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Our economy strongly relies on HDVs for passenger and freight transport, for construction and agricultural works, in addition to several specific needs requiring special-purpose vehicles. Buses & Trucks account for approximately 30 % of road vehicle emissions. Within the European Green Deal there is a clear strategy to also fully decarbonise HDVs (closely following the segment of passenger cars), either through emission-neutral fuels in today`s Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) or through electric engines fed by either batteries or
hydrogen fuel cell. New EU legislation has been adopted, such as the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) or proposed, such as the recent review of the CO2 emission performance standards for HDVs.

From the various alternative fuels for HDV, latest projections show a consensus on battery-operated prevalence, due to the higher maturity of the supply chain. Fuel-cell HDV is still an uncertain technology but could be an option for long-haul road transport, however, the market uptake proportion between battery and fuel-cell HDV remains uncertain depending on technology readiness and on consumers` preference choice.

Finally, ICEs HDV running on biofuels and synthetic biofuels are deemed applicable in specific use cases (hard-to-electrify applications) and shall be available in limited volumes, so they don`t change the picture for the power system.

This is of particular relevance for Transmission System Operators (TSOs), both regarding grid planning (amount and profile of new load), grid operation (higher energy load and power peaks, higher variability) and energy system operation (flexibility from battery-operated vehicles as well as the impact of electrolysers required for fuel cell vehicles).

The interface is the recharging infrastructure, and possibly small on-site electrolysers supplying some of the refuelling infrastructure, which needs to be coordinated both for its deployment (location, grid reinforcements) and for its operation (smart charging and Vehicle-to-Grid, V2G), through appropriate enablers: interoperable and digitalised chargers, market-driven charging processes management, tariff and business models for final users and for charging operators, and updated regulation and market rules.

This Paper addresses, from a TSO perspective, emerging technologies and trends for the uptake of Zero-Emission HDVs and their recharging/refuelling stations. It is based on a technical/economic analysis covering projections for vehicles and charging infrastructure uptake, consumers` operational requirements and economics, and regulation and market issues. The Paper identifies a taxonomy of charging use cases, their impact on the electric grids and on the broader
power system, recommending actions to be taken in a coordinated manner by the various actors of a wide and cohesive ecosystem (vehicles and battery manufacturers, charging operators and energy aggregators operators, logistic operators, fleet managers, road and urban planners, regulators) under
the fast evolution of European policy frameworks.