Community and Outreach

May 2025

E3's research featured by Asia Research News for advancing V2G strategies in e-scooter systems.

We are delighted that our research on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) strategies for electric scooter battery-swapping ecosystems was featured by Asia Research News, an international platform spotlighting research from across Asia. The feature, "Mobility meets energy: Unlocking new roles for electric scooter batteries in smart cities," highlights a study led by Associate Professor I-Yun Lisa Hsieh and published in Sustainable Cities and Society.

Batteries That Do More Than Move Scooters

Taiwan is home to the world's densest network of battery-swapping stations, where riders exchange depleted e-scooter batteries for fully charged ones in seconds. Our team saw an opportunity that extends beyond mobility: those racks of idle batteries can double as decentralized energy-storage hubs. By modeling the integration of swapping stations into the urban power system, the study explored a V2G strategy in which stations absorb surplus electricity — such as midday solar generation — and discharge it back to the grid when demand peaks. While V2G has been widely explored for electric cars, this is among the first studies to examine its use for two-wheeled transport.

Key Insights

  • Stronger grid resilience. Incorporating V2G into Taiwan's battery-swapping infrastructure enhanced energy resilience, enabling many stations to operate independently during peak hours and significantly reducing pressure on the grid.
  • Carbon savings are not automatic. "We discovered that using V2G alone doesn't necessarily reduce carbon emissions," notes Prof. Hsieh. "Without an emissions-focused control strategy, it can even make things worse." The study recommends building emission management into station control — even at the cost of small trade-offs such as a modest increase in peak electricity use.
  • Rural stations punch above their weight. With more idle batteries on hand, rural stations outperformed their urban counterparts in managing energy flows and reducing costs — evidence that V2G works not only in dense cities but also in smaller towns and less populated regions.

From Research to Impact

"This study demonstrates that electric scooter infrastructure can be more than a mobility solution," says Prof. Hsieh. "With smart management, it becomes a valuable tool for cleaner, more resilient urban energy systems."

The research was supported by the National Science and Technology Council under the Smart Battery Swap System Optimization project (NSTC 113-2621-M-002-006) and by the Ministry of Education's Higher Education Sprout Project (NTU-113L893705).

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