Consumers and businesses stand to benefit greatly from advances in battery energy storage technologies , whether they are used to power mobile internet devices , vehicles or entire households .
Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Based on an expected doubling of lithium-ion battery capacity in the next decade , electricpowered vehicles ( EVs ) are expected to become cost competitive with petrol-engine vehicles by 2025 on a total cost of ownership basis [ Ref . 10 ].
Car manufacturers are investing heavily developing both hybrid and pure electric models to help meet tightening emissions standards . Towns and cities want to impose restrictions on conventional cars to reduce pollution and in the long term , some European countries , including the UK and France , want to ban them altogether by 2040 .
In July 2017 , the UK Government announced that it would ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 onwards in order to cut carbon emissions by 80 % by 2050 from the 1990 levels , in tandem with phasing out remaining coal-fired power plants by 2025 . According to experts , although some conventional cars will remain on the road , numbers of EVs could balloon to 20 million by 2040 from around 90,000 today . Charging them all will require additional electricity from the UK power grid and would add around 5 % to the annual energy demand . This is where “ smart charging ” will be deployed .
Smart charging facilities / systems will allow EVs to draw power from the grid only when it is readily available ; avoiding peak periods , while ensuring that they are fully charged when their owners need them . Electricity utility companies will offer different tariffs at different times of day ( timeof-use , ToU tariff ), so that it will be worthwhile financially to subscribe to smart charging , as it could be a useful tool for managing demand when EVs are parked for hours at a time , either at home or at the workplace .
Implications on Electricity Supply Industry One major hurdle for EV adoption in many countries , including Malaysia , in the medium / long-term , is the need to develop adequate infrastructure in the form of recharging stations .
In this context , Governments , deep-pocketed car makers and electricity utilities should be primarily responsible for building the EV charging infrastructure in order to facilitate electric and hybrid vehicle adoption . This can be realised through effective incentive-based regulations considering the impact of retail petrol fuel pricing on future adoption of EVs and carefully weighing the trade-offs .
Going a step further , the smart charging system can be further developed and configured to deliver electricity to the grid — Vehicle to Grid or V2G System — which are currently being tested at few trial hubs in Europe and Asia ( Japan / Korea / China ). Basically , EVs are in effect energy storage devices on wheels , and because they spend much of their time parked and not doing anything , they can help smooth out the peaks and troughs in electricity demand . The V2G system uses software to regulate the charging levels of multiple EVs parked at a smart charging facility . When the grid needs extra power , it can draw very small amounts from each individual EV . During off-peak periods , the grid can re-charge these vehicles again and these EV users will get paid for the electricity they provide . This V2G system technology has the potential to be embedded in the Smart Grid infrastructure , especially at the micro-grid distribution / consumer end .
6 . Smart Grid with Knowledge Automation
With the post Covid-19 pandemic world economic fallout , many countries are accelerating their investments in Energy Transition Programme for Sustainable Renewable Energy / Energy Efficiency ( RE / EE ) infrastructure projects with green stimulus packages for rebuilding their economies . Job creation and / or job upskilling as a result of this Energy Transition investments is significant compared to fossil fuels , and many countries are already investing in it . See Figure 24 .
A Smart Grid is an infrastructure comprising electricity generation , delivery ( transmission & distribution ) and consumer network , and which incorporates information and communications technology and automation technology to minimise environmental impact , enhance markets , improve
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