Preferences and Perceptions of Bidirectional Charging from a Customer’s Perspective – A Literature Review and Qualitative Approach

Bidirectional charging management could offer benefits to individuals, society and energy providers by using the batteries of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) as a means of storage. To successfully design and implement this technology, it is necessary to match customer mobility needs with the goals of the energy sector. Therefore, practice and research need a better understanding of potential customers’ acceptance of the new technology. The authors address this void by providing a review of the existing user-centered literature on users’ perceptions and demands regarding smart charging. In addition, the authors conducted qualitative interviews to gain up-to-date, country- and use case-specific insights. The authors interviewed experienced BEV drivers as well as owners of photovoltaic systems and presented them with two use cases: Intraday and Optimized Private Consumption. The results give an overview about facilitating factors as well as potential barriers to the adaptation of bidirectional charging (BC). However, the review shows that research focusing on actual users of the technology is still rare. In addition, the interviews reveal that perceptions and demands differ between scenarios, which should be addressed by future research.