The 4th EV4EU General Assembly meeting took place on January 23rd and 24th, 2024, in Athens Greece hosted by the project’s partner Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO).
Six months after the 3rd edition in Denmark held at DTU – Technical University of Denmark Risø Campus, the consortium of the Horizon Europe project gathered for a two-day discussion and networking focused on the project developments and upcoming challenges.
The event was attended onsite by 23 participants from the EV4EU consortium and 10 remotely: INESC ID , EDP NEW , Smart Energy lab (SEL), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), University of Ljubljana (UL), Elektro Celje, ABB inzeniring, Public Power Corporation (PPC), The Azores Directorate for Energy (DRE), Bornholms Energi & Forsyning (BEOF), Electricidade dos Açores (EDA), Gen-I, Circle Consult, Citroën Hellas , Campus Bornholm, and the hosting Institution HEDNO.
On the first day, Hugo Morais, the project Chair from INESC-ID, presented an overview of EV4EU progress with a special focus on the main aspects appointed by the Project Officer from CINEA at the project’s Review meeting that was hosted the week before in Brussels.
The morning proceeded with a look into the project’s financial management by the financial manager at INESC ID, Ilda Ribeiro (remote), followed by presentations from each work package with an overview of their progress by the leading Institutions: WP1 (INESC ID), WP2 (DTU), WP3 (SEL), WP4 (UL) and WP5 (PPC).
The regular six-monthly GA is also a platform for representatives from each partner to present and discuss the progress of the four Demos based in Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia.
EV4EU is currently in month 20, ending in June 2025. At the moment, Work package 1 is almost ending, 22 tasks are closed, and the 4 Demos were launched in M13 (June 2023) and will run throughout the project life cycle, testing different use cases.
Throughout the day, Each Demo leader had the opportunity to present the developments of each location, discuss the main challenges and plan the next steps. In Portugal the Demo is based in the Island of São Miguel Azores having EDP NEW as leader. The Portuguese demonstrator aims to test V2X strategies that facilitate electric vehicle charging in homes, buildings and companies. GEN-I is heading the demonstration in Slovenia, which is testing the impact of V2X on the electricity network, the energy market and system services. The Greek demo was presented by HEDNO and is developing a more intuitive platform for managing charging stations and investigating the impact of electric vehicles on the grid. Finally, the Danish Demo (RISØ Campus Bornholm), led by Circle is testing different methods of energy management in buildings and parking lots, integrating renewable energy production.
Following this overview, each Demo held a parallel session with participating partners to discuss the next steps, KPIs, challenges and risks.
On the second day, EV4EU attended the 7th EcoMobility Conference by Hellenic Association For Energy Economics (HAEE) in Athens, the largest Greek Conference on Eco Mobility. The Conference counted on the presence of Christina Alexopoulou, Greece’s Deputy Transport and Infrastructure Minister; Baptiste Legay, Deputy Head of the Unit in charge of ‘Mobility – Road transport’, DG CLIMA, European Commission; and Anastasios Manos, HEDNO’s Chairman and CEO, among other high-profile participants, providing a unique opportunity to interact with different stakeholders and reach a broader audience, outside the project’s consortium.
At the event, EV4EU hosted a session to present the project led by Hugo Morais, who was then part of the Technical Panel “Challenges and opportunities from the mass deployment of EVs and V2G” joining speakers from HEDNO, Citroën and the University of Patras.
The discussion included topics such as energy transformation and mobility transformation, regulatory and policy challenges, users’ acceptance and experience, charging infrastructure and business models, and main pillars for decarbonization.
The morning concluded with a visit to the Hellenic Motor Museum, followed by a walking lunch for the consortium participants through the exhibition and the many models showcased in the resident Exhibition.
More about the event here.
Following a fruitful morning at the 7th EcoMobility Conference, the consortium reconvened for two concluding workshops: the EV4EU Innovation Workshop led by GEN-I, and the EV4EU Exploitation Workshop led by SEL.
To wrap up the two-day event, a thank you note from Hugo Morais to HEDNO for hosting the GA and facilitating the project’s participation in the morning Conference.
“This event was an excellent meeting point, not only to access and discuss what has been done in the first 20 months but also to discuss the next steps following what has been appointed in last week’s Review Meeting. Our participation in the Eco Mobility Conference allowed us to interact with important stakeholders, settling the ground for new collaborations. We are currently approaching the middle of the project and looking forward to the upcoming months”, Hugo Morais.
The meeting ended with the announcement of the next GA Meeting that will take place in July, in the beautiful Portuguese Island of São Miguel (Azores).
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