Electric cars can supply mobile phone stations with power during blackouts

The Austrian telecommunications group A1 and Renault have demonstrated in a pilot project in a rural community how electric cars can supply mobile phone stations with electricity. In the event of a blackout, electric cars can serve as external and emission-free battery storage units to supply emergency power and maintain the mobile phone network. “In an emergency, an electric car can be used as a mobile power bank to keep operations going for longer,” says Christian Zeindlhofer, Head of Risk and Resilience Management at A1.

Some manufacturers, such as VW and Renault, have been offering bidirectional charging with electric cars as storage for a few years now. This is because some vehicle models are designed to supply external electrical devices (V2L for Vehicle-To-Load) with power as well as feed electricity into the grid (V2G for Vehicle-To-Grid). This opens up new possibilities for emergency power concepts, such as securing the energy supply with the electric car.

Renault's e-cars with V2L for emergency power supply

A1 and Renault have now implemented such a solution in the form of a pilot project in the Austrian municipality of Raasdorf near Vienna. In the village with less than 1000 inhabitants, a mobile phone station has been made capable of supplying emergency power using V2L technology. The vehicle manufacturer is contributing fully-fledged electric cars in small car format, such as the Renault R5 E-Tech Electric, which support V2L and can therefore provide external consumers with energy from the vehicle battery.

In this case, it is about mobile phone stations, as the village would be cut off from mobile communications in the event of a power failure. A1 explains that although data centers and exchanges are backed up for many hours with large emergency power systems, this is not feasible for thousands of mobile phone sites. This is where electric cars can help out as external battery storage units. As soon as the electric car is connected, emergency calls are possible even in the event of a power failure, and communication between the population and the emergency services remains secure.

Crowdsourcing for crises?

According to the operators, the pilot project should also serve as a model for the future. After all, there are now numerous electric cars that are on the road almost everywhere every day. These “form a nationwide network of mobile energy storage systems,” explains A1. “In an emergency, the batteries in these vehicles can be used specifically to protect and maintain critical infrastructure such as mobile phone masts, which are particularly at risk in the event of a blackout.”

However, this scenario is limited to simple power outages. If the blackout was caused by events such as flooding or other natural disasters, the drivers of the electric cars might have problems getting to the mobile phone base station at all. In such cases, it may be better for people to take themselves to safety. The municipality and provider are also relying on the population to be prepared to drive to the mobile phone station and make their electric car available in the event of a crisis.

(fds)