Bidirectional Charging Gains Ground with Toyota Project and Federal, California Bills

Source: Lisa Cohn | · MICROGRID KNOWLEDGE · | November 27, 2023

“I've been working in clean DER my entire 30-plus years career; vehicle-to-grid integration is an order of magnitude bigger and more important than any other DER resource,” said Kurt Johnson. Will a new Toyota project and federal proposal help give more visibility to this important DER?

Bidirectional charging, which holds the promise of converting electric vehicles (EV) into mobile microgrids that can serve as backup resources, income-generating opportunities and grid assets, is seen as critical to the clean energy transition.

Now, with a new federal bill that would mandate EV bidirectional capability by 2027, a California bill that calls for EVs to be bidirectional by 2030 and a partnership between Toyota and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to study the charging technology, the promise is moving closer to reality.

In addition, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announced that the Ford F-150 Lightning 2022 and 2023 models, along with Ford Charge Station Pro and SunRun's Home Integration System, are now eligible for PG&E's residential vehicle to everything (V2X) pilot across northern and central California. PG&E and Ford will study how EVs can provide backup power to customers, help integrate more renewable energy, reduce power usage and allow customers to earn incentives for sending electricity to the grid during periods of high demand.

With bidirectional chargers, homeowners and businesses can take advantage of vehicle-to-everything opportunities, using their EVs as mobile microgrids to charge their homes or buildings when the grid is down. Utilities can utilize EV batteries as stationary storage that helps relieve grid stress, provide grid services and lower carbon emissions. In addition, the chargers can provide environmental equity, replacing polluting gas-fired peaker plants owned by utilities and often located in low-income communities.

Vehicle-to-grid integration ‘more important than any other DER’

“I've been working in clean DER [distributed energy resources] my entire 30-plus years career; vehicle-to-grid integration is an order of magnitude bigger and more important than any other DER resource,” said Kurt Johnson, community energy resilience director at The Climate Center.