VW Group, Elli launch electricity trading on the European energy exchange

The Volkswagen Group and its Elli brand has became the first automotive company to start trading on the German electricity market of Europe's largest power exchange, EPEX Spot. The company considers this as the first step on the way to a smart energy portfolio, involving stationary battery storage and new digital platform to control battery and electricity trading. 

According to the company, the basis for electricity trading is a stationary storage system made of e-up! electric car batteries and a new digital electricity trading platform from Elli. In the future, the stationary storage system – the so-called "PowerCenter" – will store the energy traded on the electricity market. 

The pilot project is being driven forward jointly by Elli and Volkswagen After Sales, and is a first step on the way to the planned Smart Energy Platform, the VW group claims. In the future, Volkswagen and Elli want to anchor the growing storage capacities of electric cars and batteries in the energy system and make an important contribution to the energy transition.

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"Elli will significantly advance electric mobility and the energy transition," said Elli CEO Giovanni Palazzo. "We are already Europe's largest mobility service provider in the field of charging and energy. We want to further expand this leading position and develop Elli into a leading trading company for battery flexibility". 

He added that electricity trading is a major milestone on his company's path. "Our long-term goal is clear: We want to give our customers a clear advantage in terms of electricity prices and at the same time develop new, high-revenue business models that will strengthen Elli in the long term," he said. 

Bids can be automatically placed on the stock exchange via Elli's platform. The trading results are translated into a timetable and the battery is automatically charged or discharged. Electricity is purchased during periods of low prices (with a tendency towards a high share of renewables) and sold during periods of high prices (with a tendency towards a low share of renewables). 

As a result, not only can trading revenues be generated, but a better use of renewable energies can also be achieved. The stationary battery storage uses 28 battery systems and 34 e-up! cell modules, the company claims. 

Moreover, Elli is also currently investigating the possibilities and scalability of large-scale storage systems together with the battery company PowerCo. In the future, the growing e-car fleet can also be integrated into the energy grid via Vehicle-2-Home and Vehicle-2-Grid and serve as a mobile power bank.