With the mobility sector’s decarbonization, future mobility services will be tightly integrated with the energy system and the smart grid. At the same time, vehicles are becoming increasingly autonomous. The increasing autonomy poses new challenges to the integration with the energy system but offers great potential.

Electric vehicles that are connected to the grid can provide aggregated flexibility and energy storage services through controlled charging and vehicle-to-grid. Eventually, full-autonomous vehicles automatically charge and can move with grid capacity. But the transition to more service-oriented mobility influences the impact on the power grid. Automated charging influences the optimal planning of charging infrastructure.

The research challenges lay therefore in supporting the long-term planning of charging infrastructure and power grids, under uncertainty of how mobility patterns and autonomous driving technologies will develop.