Getting a load off the grid: EV makers and utilities explore “vehicle to everything”

As the number of bi-directional electric vehicles increases, automakers and utilities are beginning to collaborate on finding better ways to make use of their enhanced capabilities.

The most obvious application is to use the large EV batteries as distributed energy storage systems to relive congesting on distribution networks while enhancing service reliability in case of localized power outages. 

In late March 2025 GM Energy, an arm of General Motors (GM), announced that it was joining forces with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) to evaluate vehicle-to-everything (V2X) bidirectional charging in a pilot program in Northern and Central California. It is one of several such schemes currently underway in the US.

 According to the two companies, eligible residential PG&E customers enrolled in the V2X pilot will receive discounts of up to $US4,500 off the price of a GM Energy home charging bundle and vehicle-to-home enablement kit, normally priced around $US7,300. The base incentive is $US2,500 for installing the equipment, with additional incentives for low-income customers.

Customers with V2X technology can benefit from the backup power to home during power outages. According to GM Energy’s Vice President Wade Sheffer the V2X technology “… can be a tool that helps overall grid resiliency and showcases the unique advantages of EVs while, in the future, may even reduce the overall total cost of EV ownership.”

A condition for the participants in the pilot is to enroll in PG&E’s Emergency Load Reduction Program, which offers incentives for customers who export stored power to the grid and/or reduce their uptake during high demand periods.

 That is how the full value of bi-directional EVs can be extracted, by charging the batteries when there is excess solar – during sunny hours of the day – and discharging some of the stored energy back to the grid during the early evening hours when the grid is usually stressed.

V2X technology also allows the household to reduce its reliance on the grid during heavy demand periods by withdrawing from the vehicle battery rather than the grid. The emergency backup is mere icing on the cake.

The basic idea behind smart EV charging applies to all EVs, whether bi-directional or not. Many networks, and not just in California, now experience daily “duck curves” which refers to the shape of the net load on the network as solar generation rises in the morning and disappears at sunset.

As Robert Cruikshank wrote in the Driven: Why my EV doesn’t cost anything to charge at home – he is among many who are essentially driving their EV for free using the excess solar power from their rooftop PVs. He wrote “I never knew it could be this good! Charging EVs with solar is ridiculously cheap.” 

“Each week I drive our Kia EV9 Earth from Melbourne to Apollo Bay (return 400 kms).  With a 100 kWh battery and a 10kW solar system, it takes about 2-3 days to put in 80 kWh of charge necessary for next return trip and that costs $2.40 (80 kWh by 3 cents feed in tariff forgone), or the price of one and a half liters of petrol.”

“The key is to have a home charger, with a ‘solar’ setting – set and forget.  You also need a job like mine (I take the train to work) that allows you to leave your car at home on 2 to 3 sunny days a week.”

Obviously, what works for one driver may not work for another, but there is scope to adjust the size of the solar panels, select the EV model with a suitable range and capacity to fit most drivers’ needs.