In February 2025, the SCALE project held the 3rd edition of its Bidirectional Cities event series, an initiative launched to support cities and regions in scaling up smart and bidirectional charging solutions. The Bidirectional Cities events focused on tendering and deploying smart and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) EV charging infrastructure, as part of the project’s Joint Procurement Programme, specifically designed for those responsible for public charging (destination charging) in cities and regions, from local authorities to grid operators. The 1st webinar kicked off in autumn, gathering ten cities from around Europe with varying levels of experience in deploying smart and V2G/V2X charging infrastructure. This 3rd event gathered over 50 participants including returning cities and newcomers. This session focused on public procurement: How can cities future-proof their charging infrastructure tenders, and what operational models can support the adoption of smart and V2G charging?
City perspectives: Stockholm and Utrecht
Annika Bergendahl from the city of Stockholm opened the session with insights into the city’s policy frameworks enabling the deployment of charging infrastructure. She provided participants with an overview of Stockholm’s ambitious climate targets and growing charging infrastructure and explained the local grid-informed procurement process with a strategic focus on low-capacity charging. The Swedish capital is rapidly scaling up its charging network, particularly to serve residents relying on on-street parking.
Matthijs Kok, developer for electric transport and new energy at the City of Utrecht, presented Utrecht’s grid-conscious charging and operational models for V2G charging infrastructure based on the city’s decade-long experiences with smart charging. Utrecht is already facing serious grid congestion and expects a shortage of 250 MW by 2030. To address this, the city introduced dynamic capacity contracts with CPOs, reducing charging speeds during peak demand through a “traffic light” model. The city also detailed its operational models (from direct procurement to concessions and hybrid approaches), supporting the long-term integration of V2G capabilities.
Bringing policy and procurement together
Aaron Fishbone, from ChargeUP Europe, presented the European Commission’s Sustainable Transport Forum’s Guidelines for Tender Procedure for Deployment of public electric recharging infrastructure for cars and vans, which were recently published and include technical requirements and recommendations for future-proofing EV charging infrastructure by public authorities. Aaron highlighted that, according to the latest AFIR obligations, future EV chargers which are publicly accessible should be smart charging capable and digitally connected, which is the basic standards for bidirectional and V2G capabilities. He also provided recommendations for public authorities for tendering and keeping an eye for innovation. He emphasised the importance of aligning procurement processes with long-term decarbonisation goals and highlighted the critical need for cross-sector coordination between cities, CPOs, DSOs, and OEMs.
To complement these guidelines, Bart van der Ree covered the SCALE Annex to the STF procurement recommendations, developed based on the insights from the SCALE Bidirectional cities events. This annex is covering the procurement of smart and bidirectional charging and options and requirements for including smart and bidirectional charging in public procurement.
Key points of discussion
Participants actively engaged in the discussion, posing concrete questions about smart charging, freight electrification, and public-private cooperation. The key points from the discussion are the following:
- Dialogue is everything: Alignment between public authorities, network operators, and other key stakeholders is essential to ensure successful deployment of EV charging. Collaboration between local and regional authorities, CPOs, grid operators, and mobility providers is not optional – it is essential for building resilient, future-ready infrastructure.
- Plan for scale, not just today’s needs: Stockholm and Utrecht’s experiences show the value of combining strategy, flexibility, and performance-based contracts to adapt to evolving charging demands.
- Smart charging must be the default: With grid pressure rising, cities like Utrecht are already scaling back peak-time charging via dynamic capacity agreements — without sacrificing user access.
- From guidelines to action: The upcoming STF Guidelines and the SCALE-developed annex offer cities practical tools to embed V2G-readiness in their procurement.
SCALE will continue convening Bidirectional Cities events throughout 2025 to deepen knowledge exchange and support cities in deploying next generation charging solutions. The upcoming 4th Bidirectional Cities event is going to be held on 23 May 2025 (online) – register here.
Resources
Available slides
Recording (will be uploaded soon)
See previous Bidirectional Cities Events and other SCALE webinars at: https://www.youtube.com/@scaleproject901