The potential and viability of V2G for California BEV drivers

TL;DR

This study uses real-world Californian BEV data to evaluate a user-centric V2G strategy, revealing its feasibility and impact on battery life across different driver profiles and battery sensitivities.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, data-driven V2G assessment based on real usage patterns and identifies driver profiles with varying V2G viability and battery effects.

Findings

V2G is most feasible for 'Daily Chargers'

Battery capacity loss varies with aging sensitivity

High sensitivity batteries may benefit from V2G participation

Abstract

Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) adoption is hindered by uncertainties regarding its effects on battery lifetime and vehicle usability. These uncertainties are compounded by limited insight into real-world vehicle usage. Here, we leverage real-world Californian BEV usage data to design and evaluate a user-centric V2G strategy. We identified four clustered driver profiles for V2G assessment, ranging from "Daily Chargers" to "Public Chargers". We show that V2G participation is most feasible for "Daily Chargers," and that the effects on battery lifetime depend on calendar aging sensitivity. For batteries with low sensitivity, V2G participation increases capacity loss for all drivers. However, for batteries with high sensitivity, V2G participation can lead to negligible changes in capacity or even improved capacity retention, particularly for drivers who tend to keep their batteries at high states of charge. Our findings enable stakeholders to better assess the potential and viability of V2G adoption.