Swiss Post e-scooters to help stabilize electricity grid
Embrach/Lucerne/Bern - Kyburz, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and PostAuto AG have launched a joint pilot project in Fribourg. The partners are testing whether Swiss Post’s e-scooter batteries can help relieve and stabilize the Swiss electricity grid if used in large numbers.
Kyburz Switzerland AG from Embrach in the canton of Zurich, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) and PostAuto AG are exploring the extent to which Swiss Post’s e-scooter batteries can be used together as a virtual power plant. A pilot project has been launched with this objective in Fribourg, as the three partners announced in a joint press release. They want to determine whether the batteries could help relieve and stabilize the electricity grid if a larger number of them are connected to it. A further focus is whether Swiss Post could save money by using variable electricity tariffs and bidirectional charging.
«As soon as the scooters arrive at the depot in the early afternoon, we calculate the charging and discharging profiles in accordance with the Groupe-e variable tariff in order to get the most out of the vehicles in supporting the electricity grid,» says Severin Nowak from HSLU in the press release. Their batteries can then serve as a virtual power plant, though they must be fully charged again at 5 a.m. when the delivery rounds begin.
In the pilot project, the partners are testing a charging process with an alternating current, which is converted into direct current using on-board chargers in the scooters. «This is the project’s key innovation,» explains Erik Wilhelm from Kyburz. «The on-board devices we’re using in this project are the first of their kind.»
