What is bidirectional charging?

Conventional EV charging systems only go one way – from the electric grid to an EV. A bidirectional charging system both charges and discharges an EV’s battery. This expands the value provided by EVs, turning EVs into “batteries on wheels” and enabling EVs to send energy stored in the onboard battery to the local utility…

How does bidirectional charging differ from “traditional” unidirectional (single directional) charging?

Unidirectional charging only sends energy one way – from the grid to the EV, making a single directional charger a constant cost center. A bidirectional charging system does more; it both charges an EV and discharges some of the energy stored in the battery to the grid or to a building. The decision whether to…

What is V2X?

Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) bidirectional charging systems allow for bidirectional (back and forth) power flow between an EV and other loads that need energy, such as the grid, a building, a home, or other connected devices. V2X includes V2G (vehicle-to-grid), V2B (vehicle-to-building), and V2H (vehicle-to-home) systems. V2X requires a bidirectionally-enabled EV, a bidirectional EV charger, and software…

What is V2G?

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems leverage a bidirectional EV charging platform to send (discharge) some of the energy stored in a parked EV’s battery to the grid when utilities need it most, for example, for a few hours in the late afternoon on a hot summer day. EV fleet operators/owners using V2G bidirectional charging systems (software and…

What is V2B?

Vehicle-to-building (V2B) systems leverage bidirectional charging to send energy stored in an EV’s battery to a building. This enables commercial building owners, operators, and tenants to better manage their electricity usage and reduce electricity bill costs by avoiding costly peak demand charges. In some instances, the energy stored in an EV’s battery can be used…

What is V2H?

Vehicle-to-home (V2H) systems leverage bidirectional charging to send energy stored in an EV’s battery to a user’s home. This allows an EV to power a home in case of a grid blackout. It can also enable the user to selectively reduce their load in response to their utility’s request for energy reduction. A V2H system…