A review of potential barriers to the participation of electric vehicles in German balancing markets

TL;DR

This paper reviews potential barriers to electric vehicle participation in German balancing markets, highlighting challenges faced by EVs as emerging flexibility sources amid evolving energy systems.

Contribution

It systematically identifies and discusses barriers to EV integration into German balancing markets based on existing literature.

Findings

Various regulatory and technical barriers identified

Limited market access for electric vehicles

Need for policy adjustments to facilitate EV participation

Abstract

As conventional flexibility providers are gradually being replaced by variable renewable energies and electricity demand keeps rising, additional flexibility will become increasingly valuable for the power system. Meanwhile, new sources of flexibility known as distributed energy resources are starting to emerge. Among them electric vehicles have a promising potential to provide short-term frequency-control services. However their integration into balancing markets faces various barriers. Based on the existing literature, this paper aims at identifying which potential barriers exist in the case of the participation of electric vehicles in German balancing markets.