Vehicle-to-Grid Pilot Project Inaugurated in Turin, Italy

FCA, ENGIE Eps and Terna have presented the pilot project Vehicle-to-Grid of electric mobility, which will become the biggest of its kind globally.

FCA, ENGIE Eps and Terna have presented, within the Mirafiori FCA’s premises in Turin, the pilot project Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) of electric mobility, which once totally completed, will become the biggest of its kind globally.

The V2G plant at Mirafiori is a project “100% made in Italy”. On the one hand, it is a significant opportunity for the Italian industrial system to take a leading role in the development of the future of sustainable mobility. On the other, it is the result of the joint effort of three companies that lead their sectors. In their use of such an innovative technology, their experiments are now beginning on a bidirectional charging solution that benefits from physical aggregation in a single point of interconnection with the power grid, capable of interacting with the other energy resources on site.

It enables vehicles to exchange energy with the power grid, making them a valuable resource for the national power grid operated by Terna, to contribute to the establishment of a more sustainable electrical system and to represent an opportunity to optimise the operating costs of the cars for the benefit of motorists, as well as a concrete possibility of contributing to a more sustainable electricity system.

Bidirectional technology – which both charges the car and returns power to the grid – can only work efficiently when the car and the charging infrastructure speak a common language. This is the focus of the trial launched with the inauguration of the plant. V2G thus represents a major opportunity, which is why FCA – together with its partners ENGIE Eps, the technicians who built the plant, and Terna, the operator of the high- and ultra-high-voltage national power grid – has committed to a cutting-edge project, an example of genuine innovation.

Phase 1 of the plant’s construction has consisted of the installation of 32 V2G columns capable of connecting 64 vehicles, aimed at piloting the technology and managing the logistics of the storage area. By the end of 2021, the Drosso V2G project will be extended to interconnect up to 700 electric vehicles, making it the largest facility of its kind ever built in the world. The management of phase 2 will be mainly dictated by cost-effectiveness: the objectives will be to provide services to Terna power grid and to ensure a positive economic result for FCA and ENGIE Eps.

Roberto Di Stefano (Head of e-Mobility for FCA’s EMEA Region) explained “Vehicle-to-Grid technology represents a significant opportunity to optimize the operating costs of cars for the benefit of motorists, as well as the concrete possibility of contributing to the sustainability of the power grid. However, we need a V2G-friendly regulatory environment. The Ministry of Economic Development has laid down criteria and means to promote the dissemination of Vehicle-to-Grid technology in Italy, with the aim of facilitating the spread of electric vehicles and the increase in flexible resources the electricity system requires for sufficient mainstreaming of renewable sources. A full regulatory framework is now expected to follow, referring to the fair remuneration of network stabilisation services and coverage of the additional costs associated with the installation of bidirectional connecting devices and measurement systems, for the provision of ancillary services”.