Development of a free online software tool for the dimensioning and analysis of Vehicle-2-Home systems (V2H)

Software that sizes photovoltaic systems, batteries, and electric vehicles (EVs), are already very common. However, there is a need for software that considers the fact that in future electric vehicles will not only charge, but also discharge, so-called bi-directional charging which is addressed in this work package. This WP will be implemented in the first 18 months. In addition to the immediate benefit of making a design tool for V2H systems available to everyone, the profiles created also have direct use in WP 8 and WP11.

Development of a free online software tool for the dimensioning and analysis of bidirectional Vehicle-2-Home (V2H) systems consisting of a PV system with or without a stationary battery.

First, the requirements for the software tool are defined. To do so, market research of free and commercial software solutions for the design of PV battery systems including V2H is carried out. Afterwards, a workshop will be held with research and industry representatives. After this workshop, the specifications for input and output parameters (evaluation criteria) as well as the types of visualization of the results are determined.
Second, the general system model and specific component models for the electric vehicles, the inverter, the photovoltaic system, and the charging station are created. Generic models are developed, and new models are developed based on the specific component models. Operating strategies are developed based on the most economical business model and implemented with perfect forecast optimization.
Finally, a web interface and a software package with back and front-end is developed. In the back-end all components of V2H-system are sized as well as the operating strategies are optimized, leading to an economic and (additionally) ecological assessment. The software is implemented as a cloud service on an FHNW cloud. Finally, the user workflow of the front-end will be tested and developed in such a way that the software is understandable for a non-specialist audience and graphically attractive. Before the final launch of the software, a second workshop is organized to present the beta version to industry stakeholders, research and private individuals. The resulting suggestions for improvement are integrated, as far as possible, into the final version of the software. Finally, the final version will be made available free of charge to all interested parties on the FHNW website.

WP 7 interacts with WP 8, 10 and 11.

WP 8 – WP7 delivers time-series as input for WP8. These timeseries of V2H-Systems are disaggregated in WP 8 using non-intrusive load measurement to identify the single components, such as the photovoltaic, the electric car and the domestic load.

WP 10 – WP 10 delivers a battery ageing model to WP 7. This battery model of WP 10 can be integrated in the dimensioning model and can be used to anticipate the amount of possible charging cycles and thus influence the economic, technical and ecological outputs of the simulation.

WP 11 – WP7 delivers time-series as input for WP11. In this measure, modular switching topologies and adaptive control strategies are being developed. The resulting technologies will be tested on a hardware and software demonstrator for applications in the low-voltage grid. Charging profiles Charging profiles of V2H systems are adopted by WP 7.