Californians receive $18,300 in support to turn electric vehicles into ‘storage batteries’

Theo Interesting Engineering, The Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X – technology that connects vehicles to everything) program of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) will provide additional support for participating people of up to 18,300 USD.

PG&E is a large electricity and gas company in the US. Of the total amount above, they support up to 4,500 USD, while 13,800 USD is deducted from the program for separate charging products of the California government. People will be compensated for this amount when installing home energy systems including solar power, inverters, and two-way charging equipment for electric vehicles.

V2X is a model that turns electric vehicles into a source of mobile energy storage and distribution, charging during off-peak hours and discharging during peak times, reducing pressure on the power grid. According to statistics from the electricity supply company Octopus Energy (UK), electric vehicles spend up to 95% of their time in parking lots.

PG&E is testing three V2X programs in California, turning vehicles into a source of electricity for homes (Vehicle-to-home – V2H), offices (Vehicle-to-building – V2B) and the grid (Vehicle-to-grid – V2G), helping to reduce costs and pressure on the power grid. Vehicle manufacturers selected in the program need to integrate two-way charging technology.

According to business research, the solution of switching electricity use to off-peak hours can save about 1.8 billion USD in infrastructure costs by 2040. As for households, charging cars during off-peak hours and using peak hours helps save 1,300 USD per year, while reducing the impact from electricity price fluctuations.

Dcbel, a home energy solutions company, is also part of the pilot program. Their Ara power station integrates solar battery management devices, storage systems and a two-way vehicle charging feature, automatically coordinating power flow to meet household needs.

In the event of a power outage, this device can adjust to using power from the large capacity battery pack inside the electric vehicle (EV). According to Dcbel, this solution can maintain household power for up to 10 days. Actual maintenance time depends on the vehicle’s battery capacity and household electricity consumption.

The two-way charging (V2X) pilot program in California allows Dcbel charging stations to connect to Nissan Leaf (2018-2025), Polestar 3 or 2025 Volvo EX90. Additionally, Wallbox’s equipment is compatible with Kia EV9 (2024-2026), while the Sunrun system integrates with Ford F-150 Lightning (2022-2025).

Many US states are accelerating V2X technology trials. In Illinois, ComEd Corporation announced a test of V2G technology. And New Mexico signed a $400 million agreement with Nuvve to provide this technology for more than 2,000 electric school buses. Massachusetts also tested similar to California, to study charging behavior and impact on the power grid.