The automotive and energy markets are on the tip of seismic moves. Due to the e-mobility era, the automotive market is transferring from simple fossil fuel-powered vehicles to smart, electric vehicles (EVs). At the same time, the electric grid is changing from centralized and grimy power stations to a smart, interconnected network based on scattered renewable energy and storage.

This advanced, modern network will reinstate the current older infrastructure and attain highly-needed energy security, sustainability, reliability, flexibility, and efficiency. As these may appear like separate moves, there is an extraordinary, and perhaps surprising, unity between the automotive and energy industries. The meeting of the automotive and energy industries during their own moves makes perfect sense as they share a similar direction, common technology and are going to become interdependent. Additionally, the union of them is really needed to improve the progression of these technologies and it can offer both economic and environmental benefits to all stakeholders.

Two Rising Industries - Automotive and Energy

The growing trend of EV and smart grid markets shows their market penetration may surge by 2030. Though the global EV market is still considered immature, it is expected to increase internationally from 1 million EVs purchased in 2018 to about 20 million in 2030. The main reason behind it the initiatives like the International Energy Association’s EV30@30, a commitment from 16 countries to reach 30% new EV sales by 2030. Following suit, automotive manufacturers are moving up to convene this demand by electrifying their fleets.

Alternatively, the solar energy market is an older market which has grown gradually over the past 15 years, because of the global share of renewable electricity, which has expanded to nearly 27%. As solar energy forms about 3% of global electricity production, solar energy is hastily becoming a larger segment of the energy mix. PV installations have been increased by 138% in the past 5 years and are likely to grow another 46% by 2022. According to the IEA's World Energy Outlook, more solar energy power was added in 2017 than the total of coal, gas and nuclear combined. In addition, the Solar Energy Industries Association expects there will be more than 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar installed in the United States, with an annual total exceeding 14 GW by 2021.

Straining The Grid

As this real-time growth of the EV and PV markets supplies so many benefits for the environment and consumers, it also produces a remarkable strain on the electric grid. Till now, primarily the electric grid was to certify that it immediately met fluctuating demand by rising up or down production as per demand. But, with the penetration of solar energy into the grid, one more complexity was added. Today, the grid is not only required to cope with erratic demand but also with an inherently irregular generation that has fast drop-off times in the evening. This makes it more demanding to preserve the balance between supply and demand. With an increase in the complexity, soon millions of EVs will employ the electric grid as their power source.

These new pressures on the grid fetched by the change to solar energy and EVs underscore the requirement for the grid to alter and become smarter and more consistent. To bring this move, the grid needs to pull smart, responsive electronics, such as solar inverters, that can act as mini-controllers. These smart electronics will control solar production, batteries and other electric devices in the home, including EV chargers. With helping electric utilities and managing solar generation challenges, it facilitates better management of the more expected stresses caused by EVs.

A Developing Energy Market

A similar move that the grid is making towards installing an interconnected and autonomous energy ecosystem somehow reflects the next stages of e-mobility. With the initial step of e-mobility being electrification, and the future stages about generating bi-directional communication between EVs by which they can share information for a smarter, safer, and easier driving experience, while also leveraging automation.

Initially, the technology overlaps between EVs and solar energy may appear unusual, however, with both these ecosystems essentially being energy markets, it makes sense. Both EV power trains and solar energy systems share the same core technology – DC/AC inverters, batteries, DC/DC converters, communication, and software. The inverter is one important component which acts as the brain of both power trains and PV systems which is efficient and cost-effective.

An Innovative Energy Ecosystem

As innovation persists, so also can technology shift, causing acceleration and convergence of both automotive and energy industries. For example, EVs could be better incorporated to the grid with bidirectional charging, batteries doubling as a power source for homes when the grid is down or being charged from solar energy with an EV-charging inverter. Mutually, automotive and energy merging industries will take another major jump forward towards developing a complete smart energy ecosystem in the home and help assist a smarter grid. This will give rise to a more secure, financially-feasible and environmentally-friendly energy network that allows both utilities and individuals alike, a change that is both necessary and thrilling.