Grid Down? Scientists Say Your EV Might Present the Wanted Backup Energy

If we’re planning to expand electric vehicle (EV) usage, we may as well maximize their energy potential. That’s the intent behind the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) model—a proposal that taps into idle EVs at charging stations as a backup source for power grids.

A recent Utilities Policy paper outlines why, despite sounding like an ideal solution, V2G hasn’t been widely implemented. The study presents potential roadmaps for adopting V2G based on stakeholder interviews and market analyses. Of course, the EV industry has suffered major turmoil under the current administration, so it’s unlikely that the paper’s suggestions will reach D.C. anytime soon. But in a hopeful future, V2G could both boost grid efficiency and reduce ownership costs for EV drivers, the researchers said.

“V2G is the idea that your electric vehicle isn’t just a car; it’s a battery on wheels,” Serena Kim, the study’s corresponding author and a data scientist at North Carolina State University, told Gizmodo in an email. “Most EVs sit parked about 95% of the time. V2G technology allows that stored energy to flow back out of the vehicle and into the power grid, your home, or a building when it’s needed most, like during a hot summer afternoon when everyone cranks the air conditioning.”

The EV state of the union

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, electric vehicles could help the fuel economy, reduce air quality impacts, and contribute to a safer transportation system. Given these benefits, ramping up the U.S. EV industry became a policy cornerstone for the Biden administration.

Until Donald Trump took office, that is. Last year, Trump revoked many Biden-era mandates on EVs, including a 50% target for EVs in new vehicle sales, government funds for charging stations, and EV tax credits, according to JP. As a result, EV sales plummeted in the U.S., with major players such as Ford, GM, and Stellantis retracting previous investments in EVs, reported Inside Climate News.

On that bright note

That said, several experts told E&E News that EVs aren’t yet “dead” in the U.S., although they might be “in suspended animation for a year or maybe two,” said Alan Baum, an independent auto analyst. And the new study taps into this optimistic scenario that the EV industry will bounce back. Once it does, solid policy suggestions for something like V2G could really help that comeback. For the study, the researchers interviewed 42 industry stakeholders, including power utilities, manufacturers, local and state governments, school districts, and EV owners.

“We went into this study knowing that V2G faced barriers,” Kim said. “But what surprised me was the distribution of where those barriers concentrate.”

Overall, the greatest obstacle to V2G implementation in the U.S. was—unsurprisingly—institutional barriers, the paper noted. For instance, power utilities and EV owners want to see more V2G-capable vehicles, as well as more transparency in how the program would work and compensate them. On the other hand, inconsistency along state lines is making it challenging for automakers to plan and invest in EVs, according to the paper.

“That means the barriers are primarily about coordination and implementation, not about whether people believe V2G works or whether they think it’s worth something,” Kim added. “It suggests we don’t need to win a public opinion battle or wait for some technical breakthrough.”

In hopes of a comeback

At the same time, the findings indicate the challenge lies in “building the institutional scaffolding… that makes it easy and predictable for everyone involved to participate,” Kim said. The paper also notes some shortcomings of the work, including a relatively small sample size and a focus away from residential EV owners, whose motivations are “likely shaped by different information constraints, risk perceptions, and value trade-offs.”

As a result, V2G only exists in pilot settings. But these preliminary projects have delivered some meaningful lessons, Kim said. For instance, Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Boulder, Colorado, launched pilot V2G programs in 2023 and 2024, respectively. While these programs were small, they showed V2G geared toward lower-income communities boosted accessibility to electric vehicles for a broader population, she explained.

“These are solvable problems, but they need real attention,” Kim concluded.

Considering the current political landscape, the prospects for addressing those uncertainties in the near future are probably slim. But as Kim says, they’re solvable problems. But for the time being, EVs—and their potential benefits—might be “suspended in animation.”