Sustainability in e-mobility

Ruhstorf/Rott. Research of a European dimension with regional participants: “Open Mobility Electric Infrastructure” (OMEI) is the name of the project, which will run until the end of 2024. Under the direction of the Landshut University of Applied Sciences with the Technology Center Energy (TZE) in Ruhstorf (Lkr. Passau), a team of ten institutions and companies want to create a freely available data basis in order to plan a sustainable, regional charging infrastructure for electromobility and concepts for intelligent use of e-vehicles.

Building on this, the consortium is also developing optimal ecological, economic and technical solutions for charging infrastructures in the European transport network, which combine regional renewable energies with sustainable energy storage.
The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport is funding the project with a total of almost 4.2 million euros.

“The necessary expansion of the electric charging infrastructure puts an enormous strain on the European transport and power grids,” explains project manager Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Pettinger, Scientific Director at the Energy Technology Center (TZE) at Landshut University of Applied Sciences, “to cover the power requirement, we need fast-charging systems on the main traffic routes throughout Europe.” However, electricity from the respective region must also be available for this. As a first step, the researchers therefore want to collect charging, user, energy and traffic data in order to calculate the effects of an intelligent charging infrastructure on the energy transition. To do this, the team is building demonstration systems in two model regions on a main European traffic artery (e.g. along the A3 motorway) that combine a fast charging station with a hybrid energy storage system.

In addition, the team is planning a third system for end users that works “bidirectionally“, which means that electric cars can be both charged and discharged. “With this vehicle-to-home variant, we want to use the potential of the available storage capacities of stationary vehicles and thus develop network-based charging and discharging scenarios with the help of artificial intelligence,” explains Pettinger. In the end, there should be a holistic concept for a sustainable charging infrastructure.

Science also wants to share its findings: The data generated will be made accessible via open data portals and the results will be published in a user app, as the Landshut University of Applied Sciences explained yesterday. An electric vehicle is refueled at the Energy Technology Center in Ruhstorf. But where does the electricity come from? Here, those involved in the research project want to develop regional solutions.

In order to be able to implement the project as planned, the project partners are working together in close exchange: while the battery manufacturers JB and Fenecon (Deggendorf) and the charging station operator MER (Teisnach, district of Regen, formerly E.Wald) are responsible for the installation and operation of the energy storage devices or fast charging stations are responsible, the TZE works together with “Heitec” (Erlangen) to develop the system structure and the operating strategies of the charging infrastructure and the energy storage. In addition, the TZE, together with the University of Passau, is responsible for the simulation models and tests the vehicle-to-home applications. Technagon (Grafenau) is developing a bidirectional wall box for these vehicle-to-home applications. The electricity supply cooperative EVG Perlesreut is also involved.

“Ultimately, the project should help expand electromobility, avoid grid overload and enable citizens to use electric drives sustainably,” explain those involved.