Mobility

As our energy system is transformed in the fight against climate change, it is a challenge to balance the technical complexities and big-picture objectives with their impacts on people and communities. Policy is used to support and guide the transition, but researchers lack the right quantitative modeling tools to inform policymakers about new policy designs and their impacts on the larger system. Existing models are too computationally expensive to go beyond scenarios to produce better policy mixes that address these multiple objectives.

In this project, we aim to develop a new modeling suite to assess and optimize policy mixes related to electric vehicles and the electricity system transition. Key policy case studies include: vehicle purchase subsidies that shape EV adoption, charging infrastructure investments that shape EV driver charging behaviors, and pricing signals that shape the EV charging process. We plan to use machine learning meta models to facilitate the optimization of these policies. The goal of the project is to contribute insights to support better policies for the EV transition and reveal the trade-offs between cost, emissions, equity, and health objectives in their design.

A strategic partnership between Everllence, Volkswagen, and ETH Zürich, the AMBER project uses state-of-the-art methods to improve modeling for the European energy system. Our work in the AMBER project focuses on the business case for new technologies including mega-scale heat pumps and commercial electric vehicles. Under which conditions will these technologies see widespread deployment? Within ETH Zürich, AMBER is a collaboration between SusTec, EPSE, PSL, the Energy Science Center, and the ETH AI Center. 

The first stream withing PATHFNDR (Pathways to an efficient future energy system through flexibility and sector coupling) uses qualitative methods. 

• Electromobility has high potential for decarbonizing the transport sector in Switzerland. The trend towards battery-electric vehicles is gradually gaining ground in private transport. The transition is proceeding more slowly in road-based cargo transport as different technologies (hydrogen, battery-electric, synthetic fuels) for heavy goods vehicles are still in competition.
• We are investigating both markets. In the case of private transportation, we examined how Tesla managed to gain market share in the gasoline and diesel-dominated market by shifting the consumer evaluations of sustainable innovations through product design and blame avoidance. In the case of heavy transportation, we are comparing competing technologies and their adoption by focusing on the availability of technology and energy, infrastructure, and policy.

The second stream within PATHFNDR uses quantitative modelling.

• Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) has high technical potential to support the grid in Switzerland and help integrate renewables, but there has been limited private deployment. High station costs and electricity tariff designs have made V2G unprofitable for aggregators. We investigate the use of policy tools like subsidies or network rate reimbursements to make V2G profitable in Switzerland and encourage widespread deployment.
• Recent research has found that wider deployment of daytime charging infrastructure at workplaces or public locations could improve the grid integration of electric passenger vehicles. What policies can the government use to shape deployment of stations by the private sector toward that goal? We investigate the role of different firm attitudes and interactions to inform station incentives and policymaking in Switzerland.
• Further, we investigate how charging plug-in behaviour patterns could impact long-term electricity system planning.

Website: Download https://sweet-pathfndr.ch/

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Charging infrastructure can be an important long-term tool for flexibility: changing where drivers plug-in to charge their electric vehicles also changes the time of day and impacts the electricity grid. We study the German electricity system with a detailed model of plug-in behaviours to understand how charging infrastructure policies should be used to shape future charging demand.

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The overall goal was to asses how the increasing share of EVs can be beneficially integrated into distribution grids. In doing so, the project focused on identify enablers and barriers, the interplay between different EV dis-/charging strategies and consumer behaviours, and different incentives affecting the integration of EVs as a flexibility option.

• While current trials for bidirectional charging mostly focus on commercial EVs that charge at work and the provision of vehicle-to-customer and transmission grid services, broader combinations are expected to reduce risks such as market risks or the dependence on the behavior of specific EV user groups and allow for higher revenues.
• Technical, social, and regulatory challenges that hamper further V2X implementation have to be removed. Among the most critical barriers that we also consider relevant for Switzerland are uncertainties regarding the design of market structures or other mechanisms (e.g., tariffs, tenders, auctions) to acquire flexibility at distribution-grid level, future flexibility supply and demand, and the EV users’ willingness to participate in V2G including the effect(s) of corresponding incentives.

Find the full report Download here. 

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