SolarEV Cities for deep urban decarbonization: A critical review of integration gaps and transition pathways
Abstract
Urban decarbonization is essential for meeting global climate goals; however, progress toward integrated lowcarbon urban energy systems remains inadequately slow. The SolarEV City Concept integrates rooftop photovoltaic (PV) generation with electric vehicles (EVs) as city-scale distributed mobile energy storage, using EV batteries to increase the value and flexibility of urban rooftop PV. Modeling studies suggest that high-penetration PV+EV systems could supply 60-95% of municipal electricity demand under scenarios aligned with future sustainable-city development, but real-world integration remains limited. Despite rapid worldwide growth of both PV and EV markets, bidirectional Vehicle-to-Home/Building (V2H/V2B) and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) applications have advanced unevenly, revealing a persistent PV-EV integration gap. This critical integrative review analyzes this gap using a socio-techno-economic framework encompassing six interdependent dimensions: climate, urban structure, technology, economics, policy, and society, across nine countries: Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the United States. Cross-national comparison shows that implementation is constrained by fragmented bidirectional-charging standards, immature valuestacking and compensation models, distribution-grid and market-access constraints, regulatory separation between energy and transport sectors, and equity barriers that disproportionately limit access for renters, apartment residents, and lower-income households. Five transition-pathway archetypes, ranging from Japan's resilience-driven V2H pathway to regulation-enabled commercial V2G pathways in France and the Netherlands, demonstrate that SolarEV Cities require a transition from parallel PV and EV promotion toward shared urban-energy visions, interoperable digital infrastructure, feeder-aware planning, inclusive market designs, and multi-stakeholder implementation platforms that convert rapid PV and EV innovation into scalable, resilient, and socially inclusive urban decarbonization.
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BibTeX
@article{kobashi2026solarev,
title = {{SolarEV Cities for deep urban decarbonization: A critical review of integration gaps and transition pathways}},
author = {T. Kobashi and G R Chandra Mouli and J. Liu and S. Chang and C.D. Harper and R. Zhou and R.G. Dewi and U.W.R. Siagian and J. Kang and P.P. Patankar and Z.H. Rather and K. Say and T. Zhang and Y. Liu and K. Tanaka and P. Ciais and D.M. Kammen},
journal = {Advances in Applied Energy},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.adapen.2026.100314},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05820619v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - SolarEV Cities for deep urban decarbonization: A critical review of integration gaps and transition pathways
AU - T. Kobashi
AU - G R Chandra Mouli
AU - J. Liu
AU - S. Chang
AU - C.D. Harper
AU - R. Zhou
AU - R.G. Dewi
AU - U.W.R. Siagian
AU - J. Kang
AU - P.P. Patankar
AU - Z.H. Rather
AU - K. Say
AU - T. Zhang
AU - Y. Liu
AU - K. Tanaka
AU - P. Ciais
AU - D.M. Kammen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
JO - Advances in Applied Energy
DO - 10.1016/j.adapen.2026.100314
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05820619v1
AB - Urban decarbonization is essential for meeting global climate goals; however, progress toward integrated lowcarbon urban energy systems remains inadequately slow. The SolarEV City Concept integrates rooftop photovoltaic (PV) generation with electric vehicles (EVs) as city-scale distributed mobile energy storage, using EV batteries to increase the value and flexibility of urban rooftop PV. Modeling studies suggest that high-penetration PV+EV systems could supply 60-95% of municipal electricity demand under scenarios aligned with future sustainable-city development, but real-world integration remains limited. Despite rapid worldwide growth of both PV and EV markets, bidirectional Vehicle-to-Home/Building (V2H/V2B) and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) applications have advanced unevenly, revealing a persistent PV-EV integration gap. This critical integrative review analyzes this gap using a socio-techno-economic framework encompassing six interdependent dimensions: climate, urban structure, technology, economics, policy, and society, across nine countries: Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the United States. Cross-national comparison shows that implementation is constrained by fragmented bidirectional-charging standards, immature valuestacking and compensation models, distribution-grid and market-access constraints, regulatory separation between energy and transport sectors, and equity barriers that disproportionately limit access for renters, apartment residents, and lower-income households. Five transition-pathway archetypes, ranging from Japan's resilience-driven V2H pathway to regulation-enabled commercial V2G pathways in France and the Netherlands, demonstrate that SolarEV Cities require a transition from parallel PV and EV promotion toward shared urban-energy visions, interoperable digital infrastructure, feeder-aware planning, inclusive market designs, and multi-stakeholder implementation platforms that convert rapid PV and EV innovation into scalable, resilient, and socially inclusive urban decarbonization.
SN - 2666-7924
ER -