The top 5 trends and innovations at eMove 2019

The annual e-mobility exhibition eMove360 was held in Munich, Germany from 15-17.10.2019. The fourth edition of the global e-mobility fair was, as usual, filled with innovation and the newest tech in sustainability and electrification of the mobility sector.

The Virta team joined the event for the fourth time and roamed Messe München for the full three days in search of inspirational innovations, and educating the crowds of our input in the field - this time focusing on our cutting-edge technology in vehicle-to-grid implementation and commercialisation.

Without further ado, let's look at the, in our opinion, most visible and interesting trends and innovations of eMove360 2019.

5. Calibration Law in electric mobility

Eichrecht in German, or Calibration Law in English, was understandably one of the biggest topics at eMove360. The Calibration Law has been legislated to guarantee transparency in the measurement of the different prices and costs used for billing the charging events. To secure this, the Regulations Committee of Enquiry has defined a legal framework for all the charging devices used in the German EV charging infrastructure.

Throughout Germany the CPOs (charging point operators) are required to follow these regulations, hence the importance of technical implementation of Eichrecht compatibility for the charging stations across various brands and manufacturers.

In other words, “Eichrecht compatibility”, in a form or another, was scattered all over eMove360 – as it’s required by the German law for operating EV chargers nationally, it didn’t come as a big surprise.

4. E-port: Solar panel powered EV charging canopies

In Virta’s unofficial eye-candy category, competing with a handful of carefully designed and implemented booths, chargers and graphics, the solar panel powered canopy was the winner. Even though the aesthetic factor is inevitably apparent, that is not the only benefit (!) of this power inducing canopy. As E-port utilises solar panels as their energy source, this all-in-one canopy provides shade, shelter as well as renewable, free energy and charging for electric vehicles. Did we mention it looks great?

Sustainability and green production in mind, the E-port is also built with lower emission materials – all variables considered, the E-port was a clear choice for our list.

3. Battery-as-a-Service, BaaS

One of the most interesting innovations of eMove 2019 turned out to be Clean Energy Global’s BaaS (Battery-as-a-Service). Both mobile and stationary energy storage with a software and cloud solution awarded the innovators a finalist spot in the eMove’s Battery & Powertrain category.

In practice, Battery-as-a-Service would give the customer a quick way to add range to their EVs when swapping to charged batteries through automated swapping stations – and when the used batteries can’t cut it as EV batteries anymore, they’re fully compatible as domestic energy storage. More bang from the watt, or watts for the buck – or something in that manner.

The customer’s benefits range from cheaper electricity, quicker range addition to diverse usage of the storage unit. Leasing the battery module saves money on the EV investment, as the electric vehicle itself can be sold or leased without the battery, and then swapped to this module. Although these aforementioned battery swapping stations definitely aren’t widely spread (yet!), this is more than an interesting concept.

2. High-power chargers

Chargers, everywhere. More specifically – hyper-, super-, ultra- or whatever-the-brand-is-calling-them-chargers everywhere. This surely was one of the most eye-catching trends of the exhibition. The mere size mixed with slick and futuristic design; the various fast chargers could not go unnoticed.

Chargers with power outage ranging from 22kW all the way up to 300kW were proudly put out on display, and for a perfectly good reason, too. As the brands, models and specifics were too many to all fit our list, we settle for stating the fact that the future of super fast charging is truly here.

Even though the super fast-charging technology (e.g. 300kW) is a luxury many EV’s can’t - if any at all - make use of in practice, the wait shouldn’t be too long. The chargers power outage and EV’s charging capability has always been a game of chicken or the egg, but at the moment the charger development is definitely leading the race.

Last but not least, we present you the number one spot on our compiled top5 list. 

1. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G)

The talk of the town was bidirectional charging, or V2G for short. Different versions of bidirectional charging could be spotted around the booths at eMove, with the talk ranging from V2X (Vehicle-to-X), V2H (Vehicle-to-household) to V2G (Vehicle-to-grid).

V2G has been a subject of fame on a conceptual level for a while, but the newest technology has brought us big leaps closer to a commercially and technically viable solution for balancing the grid. Developing a future proof and commercially viable solution for making e-mobility even more sustainable is the goal, and we are now closer than ever.

Virta offered the visitors a comprehensive demonstration of our V2G solutions and managed to gather a praiseworthy audience for the side event. For you to get a better picture of what our V2G solutions are all about, check out our video demo below.