The Institute for Sustainable Development (INE) of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and novatlantis - the non-profit association for sustainability and knowledge transfer - are implementing the OKEE project for integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into (building) energy management systems as part of the "Pilot Region Basel".

The ADEV Energiegenossenschaft and the Habitat Foundation are participating as innovative implementation partners, so that for the first time in Switzerland a complex Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) pilot project is combined with a car-sharing concept in order to increase the own consumption of photovoltaic electricity in a 2000-watt area.

The implementation in Erlenmatt Ost in Basel from January 2018 is based on the common interest of all partners in the practical testing of charging and own consumption solutions for and with electric mobility in larger areas. To this end, charging stations, electric vehicles and a corresponding communication and control solution in Erlenmatt East will be co-financed, installed, operated and scientifically supported for one year. In addition to technical questions, the development of organisational solutions (meter concepts, billing systems, measures to optimise own consumption) is a particular focus. In future, these solutions should be transferable to other sites and thus make a major contribution to further applications in Basel and throughout Switzerland.

Background of the project

Experts expect the energy and mobility sectors to grow together through the spread of electric vehicles. Batteries from electric vehicles are suitable for storing photovoltaic electricity between and increasing the own consumption of single and multi-family houses or larger areas (Vehicle-to-Home, V2H) or providing grid services by bundling battery capacities (Vehicle-to-Grid, V2G). The consortium has set itself the goal of implementing V2H and V2G solutions in Basel-Stadt.

Especially in the area of apartment buildings or residential areas, there are still many obstacles to the implementation of these concepts: due to tenancies, different planning horizons, high transaction costs or missing billing and measurement concepts own consumption and sustainable mobility solutions can only be realized  through the integration of different actors and the development of adapted solutions. systems promises many advantages for the pilot region: Firstly, the integration of electric vehicles into the building / area energy management can optimize self-consumption. Secondly, the local network stability can be improved and thus relieve the strain on the electricity network. Finally yet importantly, thanks to a linking between two sectors, a sustainable mobility concept can be developed for the area by optimally meeting the mobility needs, as well as its own consumption targets, with the result that the 2000-Watt objectives of the areas are reached.