**5. The Transition to Climate-Neutral Transportation and Energy**

Integrating renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydro is essential to creating communities with sustainable energy. Even when accounting for the hourly effects of renewables' intermittency in a fully dynamic energy system, renewable energy sources have a far lower impact on climate change from a life cycle viewpoint than conventional energy sources such as oil, natural gas, or coal [112]. The increasing amount of distributed power generation equipment connected to the utility network has caused problems with power quality, safe operation, and islanding protection. In order to adhere to grid interconnection standards, distributed generating system control must be improved [113]. For instance, transitioning to all-electric cars would only increase electricity use by 20% in Belgium [114]. Renewable energy is being used more frequently. What happens if there is neither wind nor sun, though? In these situations, we must either rely more heavily on alternate energy sources or invest more money on energy storage. Battery size plays a big role in electric car performance. Batteries in cars can be used to store extra solar- or wind-generated electricity. The phrase "smart charge management" is used to describe it. When there is a high demand for power, the stored energy can be released back into the grid. The technical term for this is vehicle-to-grid, or V2G.

An extensive cycle test revealed that using the V2H to power a house had little influence on the battery's effects of aging. The main cause of the V2G features' minimal effects on battery aging is that the discharge current needed to power a house is substantially lower than the current needed to accelerate an automobile [115]. A battery can be integrated into a Local Energy Community (LEC) in a number of advantageous ways, enabling energy to be stored while it is affordable on the wholesale market and released when it is more expensive. Capacity credit, a service offered, can help delay or reduce the need for infrastructure upgrades in the production, transmission, or distribution sectors. Batteries installed behind the meter can also help with backup power and energy cost reduction by increasing PV self-consumption in microgrids.

As energy communities and more decentralized production become more common, the power grid is projected to alter. The energy management of such systems must include electric fleet bidirectional charging systems, which can offer services that are flexible in nature, enhance self-consumption, and continue to prevent grid congestion. A vehicle-togrid case study's techno-economic analysis can be found in reference [116]. However, for vehicles and chargers to function in a bidirectional manner, electricity must be able to be transmitted in both directions. This raises a need to initiate communication with the local grid operator, which is still an unresolved issue. The first realization shows how taking use of value streams connected to grid balancing can be facilitated by intelligently integrating electric vehicles into a grid [117]. Therefore, it is crucial to build a real laboratory where this research can be carried out. Several guidelines and specific requirements for integrating the V2G in a local energy system are provided in reference [118]. Electric vehicles are seen to emit two times less carbon dioxide (CO2) over the course of their whole lives than gasoline or diesel engines do if we use the European electricity mix. This may be four times less if we use the electrical mix in Belgium as an example. If automobiles were fueled by renewable energy, carbon dioxide emissions might be reduced by a factor of more than ten [8,102,119]. Figure 9 displays the findings for each vehicle's ability to contribute to climate change or global warming. The BEV using Belgium's power mix receives the lowest overall grade for climate change.

The BEV also outperforms conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles in many other mid-range areas, with the exception of human toxicity. The large impact on human toxicity is brought on by the creation of auxiliary components such as batteries, motors, electronics, etc. However, when comparing the well-to-wheel (WTW) phase, which is appropriate for the Belgian limits (and urban region), it is evident that the BEV has higher ratings than all other vehicles in the investigated impact categories.

**Figure 9.** Results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) for climate change [8].

In light of this, reference [120] suggests a range-based LCA method that takes into account the market variability of each technology. The results reveal that, as shown in Figure 10, the BEV performs best when evaluated on an all-encompassing single score level.

**Figure 10.** Results of single-score LCA [8].

### **6. Autonomous Electric Vehicles (AEVs)**

These industries are transitioning towards greater automation together with the electrification of the energy and transportation sectors. The development of electric vehicles with high levels of automation is receiving more research attention and funding from the automotive industry as well as other technical industries. This is the main reason that the electric vehicle has to be autonomous, to bring more perks in terms of cost reduction, safety, service level, and above all environment benefits [121,122].

Synergies between AVs and EVs can be used as a result of the transition from EV to AEV. New innovations in data-driven algorithms, artificial intelligence, robust sensor technology, and smart communication are all necessary for this transformation. The mobility system and its integration into the power grid may be further optimized and its environmental impact may be decreased by addressing the fleet management and energy demand challenges [123]. Strong and rapid communication protocols are important to offer a seamless integration.
