The ACDC Project

The Danish government plans to stop the sale of diesel and petrol cars by 2030. By that time, it is expected that between half a million and a million electric cars will already be on Danish roads. If the charging of these vehicles can be effectively managed, one million electric cars could provide a significant level of flexibility to the power grid, thereby supporting a greater use of renewable energy.

For this management to succeed, it must be both simple and cost-effective. From a technological and economic perspective, it must be feasible to implement on a large scale. Ideally, the charging stations should operate autonomously without manual intervention.

The ACDC project is working to develop two new technologies: an autonomous electric vehicle charger and a virtual aggregator. The autonomous chargers will be able to individually manage the charging of electric cars, providing specific grid services. The virtual aggregator will coordinate the charging by sending a single signal to all charging stations.

Both technologies will be developed and demonstrated during the project with 5 electric cars at Risø Campus and up to 20 electric cars on Bornholm. At the same time, stability studies will be conducted on the entire power grid to assess the impact of aggregated charging on a larger scale. The chargers will modulate the charging one-way, meaning only into the cars, as part of this system.