YOU ARE THE GRID:

New research published Tuesday found that electric car batteries could help boost short-term grid storage in times of increased demand or lower supply, either by setting up "vehicle-to-grid" or "second use" schemes.

"Harnessing this potential will have critical implications for the energy transition," said the study published in Nature Communications.

A "vehicle-to-grid" approach would allow drivers to connect car batteries to the grid for short term-storage when needed, the authors said.

For example, commercial fleets could inject power into the grid when at a depot.

"Second-use" schemes would allow drivers to sell or donate car batteries once they can no longer be used to power vehicles, which is generally when their capacity falls below 70 to 80 percent.

Even a low level of participation from drivers could make a big difference, the researchers said.

"Low participation rates of 12 to 43 percent are needed to provide short-term grid storage demand globally," study co-author Chengjian Xu, of Leiden University in The Netherlands, told AFP.

"Short-term grid storage demand could be met as early as 2030 across most regions", he added, saying this was a conservative estimate.

By 2050, it would exceed the storage capacity required to help limit global warming to well below 2C, as outlined by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

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