Bidirectional charging could provide home backup power, stabilize the grid, and lower costs for EV owners. A new consortium aims to make it mainstream.

A Nissan Leaf plugged into a Fermata Energy bidirectional charger at the Southern California site of DOE’s "vehicle-to-everything" announcement last week. (Harvey Farr Photography)

How much more valuable can electric vehicles be if their batteries can be tapped to power homes, other buildings or the grid at large? And are those extra benefits worth the costs and complications of getting the technologies and policies in place to make EV bidirectional charging possible at large scale? 

The U.S. Department of Energy appears to think this “vehicle-to-everything” (V2X) capability is well worth the effort. Last week, it launched a collaboration with automakers Ford and General Motors, vehicle-to-grid charging companies including Fermata Energy, and California’s biggest utilities and energy regulatory agencies to test and validate the commercial viability of technologies that can make it happen. 

This combination of grid value and consumer value makes V2G an integral part of policy efforts to drive down the cost of EV adoption, David Slutzky, CEO of Fermata, said in an interview this month.

“I would submit the biggest single obstacle to EV adoption is no longer range anxiety,” he said. “It’s the money. They’re more expensive.” Tapping into batteries “is where you disrupt the total cost of ownership for an EV.”

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About Fermata Energy

Park it. Plug it. Profit.TM Fermata Energy’s proprietary vehicle-to-everything (V2X) software platform and bidirectional chargers turn EVs into mobile energy storage assets, making it possible for EVs owners to combat climate change, increase energy resilience, and reduce energy costs. Learn more at www.fermataenergy.com, and follow us on Twitter (@FermataEnergy) and LinkedIn.