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Insights from SCALE’s 2nd Bidirectional Cities Event on the Joint Procurement of Smart and V2G Charging Infrastructure 

This autumn, SCALE launched a series of events focused on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Implementation and Procurement, as part of a Joint Procurement Programme, specifically designed for those responsible for public charging infrastructure (destination charging) in cities and regions — from local authorities to grid operators. The first webinar kicked-off in October followed by the second event on 18 November, that gathered ten cities from around Europe with varying levels of experience in deploying smart and V2G/V2X charging infrastructure.   

Insights from the 2nd Bidirectional Cities Event

Cities future-proofing their EV charging infrastructure

The first city presentation was given on International EV Charging and V2G Initiatives from Sture Portvik (City of Oslo) illustrating the city’s anticipated future energy shortage and how solutions to deploy removable fast-charging sites and battery swapping stations, along with testing flexibility markets, could support ferries to address limited power availability in harbors, citing examples of combined charging systems. Three ongoing pilots were presented focusing on housing and mobility, along with SEEV4-City project with Amsterdam and Belgian cities. For Oslo, V2G is seen as a future necessity to optimise cost and grid usage, with participation in capacity markets deemed complementary to V2G strategies. 

The second presentation was given on Kadıköy’s Pilot on V2G for Disaster Relief by Mert Yaman (Kadıköy Municipality in Istanbul). As the district with the highest EV adoption rates in Istanbul, Kadıköy collaborated with Hyundai for bidirectional charging combats grid congestion while allowing earthquake resilience technology. However, challenges remain including the limited regulations in place for EV grid balancing and bidirectional chargers are not yet widespread. 

The third presentation was given on Current Status on Smart Charging and V2G by Rafael Waters (City of Uppsala) who cited grid congestion and unexpected lack of capacity for electrifying buses as a major challenge that helped the city to focus sustainability efforts with different options including biogas alongside hydrogen, noting that fully electrifying public transport not feasible due to current constraints. However, the municipality has an integrated research team that manages current smart charging, and they will be piloting V2G in 2026 in a commercial facility owned by the municipality, in a manner that prioritise user acceptance in future research efforts. 

The fourth presentation was given by Pekka Koponen (City of Helsinki) that spoke on the slow procurement processes for EV charging infrastructure deployment and no grid issues. The city owns the electric utility, and with 2030 climate goals, one-third of buses are electric. 10% of all parking needs to have EV charging capacity. Future piloting will be done through the ePowerMove project that will kick off in January to further develop V2G capabilities further with Virta. Existing challenges for V2G lie in the business model, exacerbated by current electricity prices. 

SCALE partners in the spotlight

The final presentation given by Tamas Toth-Balo (City of Budapest) on the Importance of V2G and Smart Charging and its role for managing available electric power, highlighted two SCALE use cases – V2B load managing and smart charging technologies, and municipal use case (7th District) with EMS hardware including rooftop PV, batteries and V2G-certified charging equipment. Remaining challenges include lack of supportive legislation for V2G and smart charging. While similar to PV systems in some respects, V2G has distinct use cases requiring tailored regulatory frameworks. Finally, key points were shared on the city of Utrecht as a “first bidirectional city,” by Gertjan Geurts (City of Utrecht) and Bart van der Ree (USI).

Linking research and policy via the Sustainable Transport Forum

The event concluded with an update on the proposed Annex to the Sustainable Transport Forum guidelines for public authorities to which cities can contribute though SCALE Joint Procurement Programme. After bilateral discussions, POLIS obtained the agreement from the EC to contribute to the updated revision of the STF Guidelines for tender procedure for deployment of public electric recharging infrastructure for cars and vans. 

The cities represented were invited to become involved in the Annex, by reviewing a draft and by contributing with a ‘best practice’ description.  

Key points of discussions with the participants

In an active discussion among panelists and participants, the following questions and action points were discussed: 

  • Smart charging is a first good step to take since it does not require OEMs on board – but agreements with customers and energy suppliers, before moving to V2G. 
  • Car sharing is a nice connection to V2G; city experience shows that often charging roll-out is separate to car fleet/car sharing; cities have a keen interest in knowing the lesson learned in shared e-car experience. 
  • Important to align charging infrastructure deployment with sustainable mobility plans of the city- often many departments oversee various related aspects – cities have to ensure that ample exchange within the city administration to see that these visions are aligned and commercial operators. 

Resources

Recording of the webinar