Best of LinkedIn: Electrification & Battery Technology CW 44/ 45

00:00:00: brought to you by Thomas Algeier and Fainas.

00:00:02: This edition highlights key LinkedIn posts on electrification and battery technology in weeks forty four and forty five.

00:00:09: Fainas supports automotive enterprises and consultancies with market and competitive intelligence.

00:00:14: So product teams and strategy leaders do have the optimal base for their strategic decisions.

00:00:19: Welcome back to the deep dive.

00:00:21: Today we're really cutting through the noise on social media zeroing in on electrification and battery technology.

00:00:27: The insights we've pulled from LinkedIn.

00:00:29: over calendar weeks, forty-four and forty-five?

00:00:31: Well, they paint a pretty fascinating picture of what's happening on the ground.

00:00:34: Sometimes frustrating, too.

00:00:36: That's absolutely right.

00:00:37: What really struck me is how the conversation is shifting.

00:00:39: It's moving decisively away from the theoretical stuff.

00:00:42: You know, can we actually electrify everything to the much more practical?

00:00:47: existential questions.

00:00:48: Okay, how do we deploy this at scale and crucially make it work economically?

00:00:53: We're seeing a huge focus on grid integration, viable ways to handle massive charging demands, and maybe most importantly, trying to fix those really deep friction points for the user.

00:01:03: Yeah,

00:01:03: it feels like this constant battle, doesn't it?

00:01:05: You've got this amazing technology racing ahead, but then there's the regulatory side, the infrastructure side, struggling to keep up.

00:01:12: Exactly.

00:01:13: So let's try and unpack that tension.

00:01:15: We've grouped the insights we found into four main clusters that really seem to dominate the discussion.

00:01:20: First, bi-directional charging and V-to-G, the economics side, then the sheer scale needed for megawatt truck charging.

00:01:30: Third, the ongoing saga of charging infrastructure and tariffs.

00:01:34: And finally, how smart systems integration and grid flexibility tie it all together.

00:01:38: Okay,

00:01:39: sounds good.

00:01:40: Let's dive straight into what could be a real e-animate game changer, bi-directional charging.

00:01:45: VDG, vehicle to grid, it's definitely not just a lab experiment anymore.

00:01:51: If fundamentally repositions the EV, it's not just transport, it becomes this massive flexible energy storage unit on wheels.

00:01:57: And that capability, well, it's potentially key for stabilizing grids, especially with all the intermittent renewables coming online.

00:02:04: Plus, it unlocks completely new value for the owner.

00:02:07: And we are seeing real market momentum now, aren't we?

00:02:10: Particularly in Europe.

00:02:12: Manfred Prisbilla pointed out the V-to-G rollout in Sweden with Volvo cars and Vattenfall.

00:02:19: He stressed it's moving beyond just pilots now into a proper market offering.

00:02:23: Yeah, a commercial product, not just a demo.

00:02:25: Exactly.

00:02:26: And the potential numbers are really quite compelling.

00:02:28: Dr.

00:02:29: Leodmila Simon shared insights from Germany where Eon and BMW Group are launching a V-to-G tariff.

00:02:36: Their calculations suggest customers could actually earn up to seven hundred twenty euros a year.

00:02:40: Seven

00:02:40: hundred twenty euros.

00:02:42: Wow.

00:02:42: Yeah.

00:02:43: And think about what that means.

00:02:44: Dr.

00:02:45: Simon highlighted that for a lot of people that kind of saving could cover their entire annual mileage cost.

00:02:50: So you're essentially getting, you know, de facto free charging at home.

00:02:54: It's a huge psychological shift.

00:02:55: Yeah.

00:02:56: The EV stops being just a cost.

00:02:57: It becomes an asset potentially and it scales up too, right, for the whole economy.

00:03:01: Absolutely.

00:03:02: Jonas Ricks-Quinck decided analysis showing that widespread V-to-G could cut Europe's total energy system costs by something like eight point six percent by twenty forty.

00:03:10: And even for the individual owner, beyond just offsetting charging costs, things like energy arbitrage or providing grid regulation services could mean profits up to maybe five hundred euro a year.

00:03:22: So it's not a trivial benefit.

00:03:23: Right.

00:03:24: And Roman Siegenbroek made a great point reinforcing that VTG isn't an island.

00:03:28: Its real power comes when you combine it with other smart home tech smart meters, rooftop solar, heat pumps.

00:03:34: That's when you get truly comprehensive, intelligent energy management at home.

00:03:39: Okay, here comes the butt.

00:03:40: All that potential runs smack into regulatory hurdles.

00:03:43: A major one discussed by Herbert Dyes and Thomas Raffiner with the Bavarian Ministry is this issue of double grid fees for V-to-G.

00:03:51: Ah, yes.

00:03:52: To the killer.

00:03:53: Right.

00:03:53: For anyone listening who hasn't hit this, if you use V-to-G, you often get taxed or charged twice, once for pulling power into charge, and again for sending power out to the grid.

00:04:01: That friction, well, it just kills the incentive.

00:04:04: It's

00:04:04: the classic problem, isn't it?

00:04:05: Yeah.

00:04:06: Regulation lagging behind the tech.

00:04:08: To try and get around that.

00:04:09: Dr.

00:04:09: Julia Hildermeyer mentioned policy makers in Europe are pushing these regulatory samples.

00:04:16: Exactly.

00:04:17: Let's test new rules and solutions in a limited way first.

00:04:20: See what works before trying to change the whole system.

00:04:23: And the complexity isn't just with governments or utilities.

00:04:26: Konstantin Pache highlighted the need for massive internal collaboration within big auto groups like Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda.

00:04:36: Interoperability.

00:04:37: Precisely.

00:04:38: If every OEM creates its own proprietary BD system, it's dead on arrival.

00:04:43: You need a clear shared road map so it's scalable and works across different cars and chargers.

00:04:48: That interoperability is absolutely non-negotiable for this to take

00:04:52: off.

00:04:52: totally agree.

00:04:53: Okay, so shifting from passenger cars to the really big stuff, heavy duty logistics, the challenges just scale up quite literally, megawatt charging MCS.

00:05:02: The main takeaway from the sources here is that this high-powered charging for trucks, it's moving fast from just being a concept to actual real-world operations on key freight corridors.

00:05:13: And we saw some concrete examples of that.

00:05:14: Frederick Zohm highlighted Germany's first public MCS point opening on the A-II motorway.

00:05:19: That's part of the Hohla project, putting it right where the trucks are.

00:05:22: Yeah, crucial placement.

00:05:24: And it's not just Germany.

00:05:25: Bogdanteo Hari reported from Norway.

00:05:27: their first MCS station is up and running in Vespi, a collaboration between ASCO, Scania, and ChemPower.

00:05:34: and get this got a four megawatt capacity.

00:05:36: They're

00:05:36: megawatts.

00:05:37: Right.

00:05:38: They showed a truck getting a significant charge in just twenty-five minutes.

00:05:42: that kind of speed is what logistics operators need to minimize that crucial downtime.

00:05:47: And making that speed and power reliable, that takes some serious engineering.

00:05:51: Michael Domzolski noted how companies like Stobley are using intense thermal simulations.

00:05:56: They have to, to make sure the MCS components, the connectors and cables can handle those huge loads safely, day in, day out.

00:06:03: It's high stakes engineering.

00:06:05: and that whole supporting ecosystem is accelerating things.

00:06:08: Alexa Intelligent detailed the launch of the Advanced Transportation Research Center, the ATRC.

00:06:13: It's specifically set up for megawatt level testing to push interoperability forward faster.

00:06:17: Okay.

00:06:18: We also saw Rustom Coacher sharing updates on the Tesla Semi, including pretty concrete plans for their own megawatt charging network, something like forty six sites across the US initially.

00:06:29: That's a big infrastructure bet.

00:06:30: So the big question for fleet operators then.

00:06:33: Is

00:06:33: this actually commercially viable now?

00:06:36: Kerr Reiner reported back from a conference saying, yes, attendees are finding that electric long haul trucks can be viable.

00:06:43: They're hitting total cost of ownership parity, sometimes even beating diesel on specific routes.

00:06:48: Then

00:06:48: a key driver for that viability is quarter charging costs coming down as more trucks use the stations.

00:06:54: Utilization matters.

00:06:55: Makes sense.

00:06:56: But it is triggering this massive industrial shift.

00:06:59: Young Coasters stressed that even with more highway charging, maybe eighty percent of truck charging will still likely happen back at the depot.

00:07:06: Right, overnight or during loading.

00:07:08: Exactly.

00:07:09: And that needs really smart, sophisticated orchestration of power within those depots.

00:07:14: It's not a simple plug-and-play situation at that scale.

00:07:16: And Tobias Wagner confirmed that, look, e-trucks can do long distance today.

00:07:20: The key is effectively combining the mandatory driver rest stops with recharging.

00:07:25: Using tools like the eTrucker app becomes vital to find reliable, validated charging points along the route.

00:07:30: It integrates the driving and charging.

00:07:32: So

00:07:32: whether it's cars or big trucks, the hardware is getting there, the business case is firming up,

00:07:37: but

00:07:38: it all hinges on that public charging experience being reliable and affordable.

00:07:41: Yeah.

00:07:42: which unfortunately brings us to some of the biggest pain points we saw reported in weeks forty-four and forty-five, the accountability crisis.

00:07:49: Yeah,

00:07:50: that's a good way to put it.

00:07:51: Angelo E. had a really sharp take.

00:07:53: He argued the core problem is just accountability.

00:07:55: He cited a charger help study finding that true uptime for public chargers is hovering around seventy-four percent.

00:08:02: Seventy-four percent.

00:08:03: Yeah, think about that.

00:08:04: Statistically, one out of every four times you pull up to charge... it might be broken.

00:08:09: That's just not acceptable if this is going to scale.

00:08:11: Angelo E. made the point that private networks really should be held to the same standard as the public ones funded by NEV in the US, which mandates ninety-seven percent uptime.

00:08:20: That ninety-seven percent feels like the right benchmark, doesn't

00:08:22: it?

00:08:22: It does.

00:08:23: Anything less, as he said, means the driver's shoulder is a hundred percent of the headache when things go wrong.

00:08:28: So uptime is one major headache.

00:08:30: Price transparency is another.

00:08:33: Casper H. Rasmussen called out the issue of hidden fees showing up on separate invoices, not on the main charging bill.

00:08:39: Yeah, makes it impossible to compare prices fairly.

00:08:42: Exactly.

00:08:43: For consumers, but also for mobility service providers trying to offer competitive roaming rates.

00:08:49: And then there are the session fees, the blocking fees.

00:08:54: Wolfschlachter questioned ENBW charging a blocking fee after only thirty minutes at a fast charger.

00:08:59: Right, especially if that charger's at, say, a shopping where you're expected to be for maybe forty-five minutes or an hour.

00:09:05: It just

00:09:05: doesn't align with how people actually use them sometimes.

00:09:08: It feels like optimizing the charger's turnover versus the customer's actual needs.

00:09:12: But there is some positive movement, thankfully.

00:09:14: We saw Lars Jacobs announce that ENBW is actually lowering prices across its terrace from December, twenty-twenty-five.

00:09:21: So providers are hearing the criticism and responding, it seems.

00:09:24: That's good to see.

00:09:25: Competition and user pressure working.

00:09:27: And regulators are stepping in, too.

00:09:29: Marco Mellor shared findings from the German Federal Antitrust Commission's twenty-twenty-five report.

00:09:34: Ah, what do they find?

00:09:35: Basically, where you have high local concentration of chargers.

00:09:39: You know, one company dominates an area that correlates directly with

00:09:43: high

00:09:43: ad hoc charging prices.

00:09:45: Local monopolies,

00:09:46: essentially.

00:09:46: Makes sense.

00:09:47: Less competition, higher prices.

00:09:49: So the big change coming, linked to the European AFIR standards, is mandating data transparency.

00:09:55: Open APIs for tariffs and real-time availability.

00:09:58: OK,

00:09:59: that is a big deal.

00:09:59: Yeah, it should allow apps and services to show drivers the real price.

00:10:03: And if the charger is actually working before they even get there, should help break those local pricing issues.

00:10:09: Definitely a step towards fairness.

00:10:10: Yeah.

00:10:11: And despite these struggles, the networks themselves are growing incredibly fast.

00:10:14: Alexander Young celebrated Errol Pulse getting its third very good rating in Germany.

00:10:19: Great for quality, but it also kind of reinforces that concentration point, maybe.

00:10:23: could be.

00:10:24: But on the scale front, Peter Pollack highlighted, the Toyota charging network now covers over a million charge points across Europe.

00:10:31: And they're focusing on consolidated billing, making it easier for users.

00:10:35: That sheer scale helps reduce range anxiety.

00:10:37: Absolutely.

00:10:38: Okay, so let's pivot to our final theme.

00:10:40: Moving beyond just the car and the charger, looking at the whole energy ecosystem, grid flexibility in smart systems.

00:10:47: The idea here is that flexible operation of chargers and also things like home heat pumps is becoming really crucial for managing local grids and optimizing costs for everyone.

00:10:58: Yeah, and this helps bust some myths too.

00:11:01: Bastion Jerell argued against the idea that EVUs and heat pumps just inherently stress the grid.

00:11:06: He says, no, if operated flexibly, they can actually relieve the grid.

00:11:10: How so?

00:11:11: By shifting demand to off peak times or even feeding power back.

00:11:15: But crucially, this only works if you have smart meters and dynamic grid pricing in place.

00:11:20: Get that right, he argues, and it could save grid operators billions in expensive grid upgrades.

00:11:24: Interesting.

00:11:25: Turning a potential problem into a solution.

00:11:27: Exactly.

00:11:27: Girol also mentioned a proposed framework in Germany called Miss Bell.

00:11:31: It's aimed at unlocking the potential of, get this, twelve gigawatts of already installed home battery storage.

00:11:37: Twelve

00:11:38: gigawatts.

00:11:38: That's huge.

00:11:40: It is.

00:11:41: But right now, rigid rules often prevent homeowners from using that storage dynamic with the grid, Ms.

00:11:47: Bell wants to change that, make those homes active grid participants.

00:11:50: And you can scale that idea up, right?

00:11:52: Yeah.

00:11:53: Beyond individual homes.

00:11:54: For

00:11:54: sure.

00:11:55: Anita Niederhoysern discussed research looking at how large EV fleets, like the six hundred plus vehicles run by mobility genocent shaft, could act as big coordinated virtual power plants, stabilizing the grid collectively.

00:12:07: A

00:12:07: fleet to grid concept.

00:12:09: Yep.

00:12:09: And thinking about static infrastructure, Robert Brehm emphasized that batteries co-located at charging hubs shouldn't just be for simple peak shaving anymore.

00:12:18: If you manage them smartly, they can become dynamic profit generating assets for the charge point operators, the CPOs, trading energy, providing grid services.

00:12:27: But the

00:12:27: charging hub itself becomes an active player in the energy market.

00:12:31: Precisely.

00:12:32: It turns infrastructure from just a cost center into a potential revenue stream.

00:12:37: And fundamentally, the tech for all this dynamic management, the sensors, the software, the batteries, it's largely ready.

00:12:43: Jack Berger noted that dynamic grid tariffs are becoming central to making V-to-G work for users.

00:12:48: They simplify things.

00:12:49: Instead of complex signals, the user just sees, charge now, it's cheap.

00:12:53: Makes it accessible.

00:12:54: But

00:12:55: here we go again.

00:12:57: The bottleneck often isn't the tech.

00:13:00: Janine Byer stressed that smart grid progress is being held back more by regulation and organizational issues.

00:13:06: The same story.

00:13:07: Yeah.

00:13:07: We just need more pragmatism, more speed in actually implementing the frameworks to let the technology do its job.

00:13:13: We need to catch up with the hardware advancements we've been talking about.

00:13:16: So if we try to pull this all together for you, the listener, the main tension we're seeing across all these LinkedIn posts is just crystal clear, isn't it?

00:13:22: It really is.

00:13:23: The technology itself, V-to-G, megawatt charging, even new vehicle architectures like BYD's, one thousand V platform that Raul Redondo highlighted, it's ready.

00:13:32: It's deploying fast.

00:13:34: But the system around it, the tariffs, the charger reliability and accountability, the regulations, achieving that crucial interoperability at scale, that's where we're getting stuck.

00:13:44: It's struggling to keep pace.

00:13:46: The sources really point towards a future where we have to transform both mobile assets, the EVs, the fleets and static assets, the depots, the chargers, the heat pumps into active orchestrated players within the whole energy system.

00:14:02: And that needs real collaboration across sectors like automotive utility software groups that haven't always worked closely together.

00:14:09: It feels like the next big phase of electrification isn't really about inventing better batteries anymore.

00:14:14: It's purely about coordination.

00:14:16: It's about smoothing out that friction for the end user making it seamless reliable and affordable.

00:14:21: It kind of forces you to ask what's actually harder developing a sophisticated new one thousand volt vehicle platform or getting ten different global regulators to agree on one simple standard way to handle dynamic grid tariffs.

00:14:34: That's a good question to ponder.

00:14:35: If you enjoyed this episode, new episodes drop every two went.

00:14:39: Also check out our other editions on future mobility and market evolution, next-gen vehicle intelligence, and commercial fleet insights.

00:14:46: Thank you for joining us for this deep dive.

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