V2G to manage variations in the electricity system – environmental performance

Research Project, 2024 – 2026

A rapid expansion of EVs can be expected to 2030. There might also be a doubling of the Swedish electricity demand by 2045 that needs to be met by generation from renewable electricity sources. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) has been proposed as one measure to balance an electricity system with a high share of renewable energy sources. It is of importance to investigate the environmental performance of V2G using, for example, Life-cycle assessment (LCA). In previous LCA-studies the changes of the electricity system are not included in the analysis. However, previous studies shows that V2G will change the composition of the system to large extent and this needs to be included in the analysis. In this project we will therefore (1) map the changes of the composition of the electricity system in terms of CO2 emissions and use of resources in scenarios with and without V2G; (ii) define system boundaries to be used when doing LCA of V2G; and (iii) include these system changes in the LCA to calculate the environmental performance of V2G for several future scenarios of the electricity system. This method can be valuable when evaluating the cost and environmental performance of new technologies that might impact the system structure. It will also be a first step for, for example car manufacturing companies, to estimate the CO2 emissions from a car with V2G application.