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https://thedriven.io/2025/06/17/why-v2g-will-not-be-limited-to-homes-with-parking-car-share-evs-are-also-doing-it/>
"V2G – vehicle to grid – has been exciting the minds of EV owners and
technologists for many years but it has struggled to gain traction due to poor
support from OEMs (car manufacturers).
As with many things in the EV industry, you can only benefit from V2G if you
both own an EV and a driveway or garage where you can host a bidirectional
solar-enabled charger.
Here at EVS 38 in Gothenburg, We Drive Solar is showcasing a different approach
to V2G – fully commercialised AC V2G using publicly available car share
vehicles linked to public V2G chargers.
Robin Berg, CEO of We Drive Solar, brought a Renault 5 and their own brand
Solar Life wallbox. Berg highlighted that this was the result of 10 years of
collaborative work with Renault and others; working not just on the technology
but also on grid certification and safety standards to enable the cars and
chargers to be installed and used in public.
The culmination of this effort is the launch of 50 Renault 5 vehicles in
Utrecht. This will grow to 500 Renault 4, Renault 5, Megane and Scenic
vehicles.
What is notable is that Didier Duruy, CTO of Renault’s software-defined vehicle
business, Ampere, said that all Renault 5s are V2G capable, irrespective of
trim level, meaning that V2G is not optional — it’s included.
Duruy also said that Renault are confident enough in their battery technology
that they can include ‘intensive V2G use’ in the 8-year warranty on the Renault
5 battery.
The We Drive Solar system works by coordinating the needs of car share users
with the needs of the grid. They use booking data from the MyWheels platform to
determine when the car is needed.
Vehicle state is determined through the Last Mile Solutions Charge Station
Management System (CSMS), which connects to the charger over OCPP 2.01 that in
turn creates a secure connection to the vehicle using ISO 15118-20. We Drive
Solar can then determine the charging profile using this data and electricity
tariff data; tariffs are dynamic in the Netherlands.
Berg highlighted that the Netherlands has the most solar panels per capita in
the world, so as you might expect, charging is prioritised during the day and
discharging during the evening peak."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics