Unlocking new roles for electric scooter batteries in smart cities

As cities around the globe try towards net-zero carbon emissions, one key problem stays: the best way to combine clear transportation with sensible vitality programs.

In a research published in Sustainable Cities and Societya analysis workforce led by Affiliate Professor I-Yun Lisa Hsieh at Nationwide Taiwan College reveals that electric scooters—already a staple of city mobility in Taiwan—could maintain untapped potential for supporting the power grid.

The workforce targeted on battery-swapping stations, a particular function of Taiwan’s e-scooter ecosystem. These stations permit riders to shortly trade depleted batteries for absolutely charged ones, growing comfort and inspiring widespread adoption. However the researchers noticed a possibility that extends past mobility: what if these stations might additionally operate as decentralized vitality storage models?

By modeling the combination of those stations into the city energy system, the workforce explored their potential inside a Automobile-to-Grid (V2G) technique. This method permits batteries to retailer surplus electrical energy—equivalent to from solar power throughout noon—and discharge it again to the grid when demand peaks.

Whereas V2G has been broadly explored for electric carsthat is among the many first research to look at its use for two-wheeled transport.

The findings had been encouraging. Incorporating V2G into Taiwan’s battery-swapping infrastructure enhanced vitality resilience, enabling many stations to function independently throughout peak hours and considerably decreasing strain on the grid.

“We found that utilizing V2G alone does not essentially scale back carbon emissions,” says Prof. I-Yun Lisa Hsieh. “Without an emissions-focused control strategy, it can even make things worse.”

The workforce recommends integrating emission administration into the system—even when it requires accepting small trade-offs, equivalent to a modest improve in peak electrical energy use.

One other fascinating discovering got here from the comparability of city and rural settings. With extra idle batteries readily available, rural stations outperformed their city counterparts in managing vitality flows and decreasing prices. This implies that V2G programs will be efficient not solely in dense cities but in addition in smaller cities and fewer populated areas.

“This study demonstrates that electric scooter infrastructure can be more than a mobility solution,” mentioned Prof. I-Yun Lisa Hsieh. “With smart management, it becomes a valuable tool for cleaner, more resilient urban energy systems.”