Toyota is to conduct the ‘world first’ peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading pilot to include EVs as a power supply, alongside The University of Tokyo and TRENDE.
The trial will test the economic feasibility of P2P trading as an electricity supply system, enabling homes, businesses and electric vehicles to connect to the grid and trade electricity using blockchain technologies.
The trial claims to be the first in the world to incorporate PHEVs as a distributed power supply.
Solar panels, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and secondary batteries will all be part of the trial, which will take place at and around Toyota’s Higashifuji Technical Center over the next year.
Meanwhile, in the UK several projects trialling P2P trading are already underway. An EDF Energy-backed community energy trading pilot started earlier this year and Centrica’s local energy marketplace will also be testing peer-to-peer trading through LO3’s blockchain technology. And energy tech start-up Verv claimed the first P2P energy trade in the UK in 2017.
The Toyota trial, whilst utilising blockchain for its energy trading, will also install an AI-powered electricity management system in each household and business. The system will place orders to buy and sell electricity in an exchange based on electrical consumption and forecasts of electrical power to be generated by participants’ solar.
The trial will also simulate an electricity consignment fee based on distance and verify an algorithm for predicting the electricity demand of EVs. It is hoped that consumer bills will be minimised through the project.
