At 0.3 percent, their share is still small (as of January 1, 2020), but the trend is upward: more and more cars in Germany are electric. According to the dena study, their share could rise to as much as 28 percent of the total fleet by 2050. The transport and electricity sectors, which have often been considered separately, are being coupled by electric vehicles.
This helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also poses challenges for the energy system. The charging infrastructure must be significantly expanded to ensure that many electric vehicles can be reliably charged. This expansion is required because vehicles are often charged simultaneously, leading to load peaks and, without the expansion of the power grid, also to bottlenecks.
With intelligent, data-driven approaches, the energy transition in transportation can be designed to be system-friendly, cost-efficient, and environmentally friendly. This outcome requires a demand-oriented charging and grid infrastructure. Simultaneously, charging processes must be precisely controlled, considering both fluctuations in electricity production (for example, due to volatile wind and solar power) and capacity bottlenecks in the electricity grid, also known as “smart charging.” For example, an electric car battery can be optimally used as storage for renewable energies and even be used to serve the system.
