EVs = Energy Storage?

EV owners are accustomed to plugging into charging stations and filling up their batteries from the power grid. Soon, cars will have the ability to reverse that flow. An MIT team explored how EVs could serve almost like energy storage on wheels, the value of V2G applications to the entire energy system, and if EVs could reduce the cost of decarbonizing the power system. Watch this video to see the surprising results.

“At scale, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) can boost renewable energy growth, displacing the need for stationary energy storage and decreasing reliance on firm [always-on] generators, such as natural gas, that are traditionally used to balance wind and solar intermittency,” says Jim Owens , lead author and a doctoral student in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering.