An £11.4m programme of funding by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is getting off the ground to make it easier for an electric vehicle (EV) to return electricity to the network during times of peak loading. Since June, all new private chargepoints must be smart enough to adjust their rate of charge in response to external signals, in order to ease demand on the network at times like the evening peak.
There are clear reasons as to why the British government, among others, is keen to have EVs react to the needs of the grid. Without that ability, the risk is that if too many drivers in the same area demand their cars be ready to drive in the next hour it will lead to sudden blackouts.
There are distinct differences of opinion on how disruptive EV charging will be to the grid as uptake increases. Much depends on which geographic scale you use. A 2018 report by McKinsey, which cited data from Germany, is that as a percentage of overall...