China wants to push ahead with large-scale grid integration of EVs

The Chinese government has published implementation guidelines to improve the interaction of electric cars and plug-in hybrids with the power grid. The introduction of a national technical standard system for vehicle-grid interaction and a tariff mechanism for bidirectional charging is planned for 2025.

Four Chinese government agencies, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), presented the implementation guidelines today. The document stipulates that more pilot projects will be carried out before 2025 to validate the potential of new energy vehicles (NEVs), i.e. electric cars and plug-in hybrids, as mobile energy storage systems.

By 2030, controlled bidirectional charging will be established on a large scale in China. By then, the government aims for NEVs to provide “tens of millions of kilowatts of bidirectional flexibility regulating capacity for the power system.” According to the document, one of the next major tasks to achieve these goals will be strengthening battery research and increasing battery life to 3,000 cycles or more without significantly increasing costs.

As is well known, China also focuses on battery exchange stations on a larger scale. These will also contribute to grid stability. EV manufacturer Nio, for example, began testing battery swap stations that can feed electricity back into the grid in 2022.

cnevpost.com, ndrc.gov.cn (in Chinese)