Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver have embarked on a study to investigate the viability of bidirectional electric vehicle (EV) charging, also known as two-way charging. The solution could provide energy to the grid when it is needed most and save consumers money.
“This concept is very similar to Airbnb. If you have a space that you actually don’t use, why don’t you just rent it out and generate money out of it,” said Moatassem Abdallah, an associate professor at CU Denver’s civil engineering department. “So it’s the same concept with electric vehicles, if you have your vehicle just sitting and doing nothing.”
The research aims to explore a set up where bidirectional charging would give EV owners the ability to sell electricity back into the power grid. When electricity demand is at its highest, the grid can pull power from these vehicles, providing a monetary kickback to individuals in the process.
“When peak pricing happens, where surge pricing happens in the energy market, you could leverage your private battery to get a subsidy essentially, on your own consumption,” said Manish Shirgaokar, an associate professor at CU Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning.
“You can actually sell the energy that you have in your electric vehicle for certain hours of the day and then recharge it again, when there’s lower energy demand,” Abdallah said. “So, it’s going to be just generating…additional income from…a stationary asset that you have.”
Additionally, bidirectional charging could serve as a useful backup resource during outages or severe weather situations, offering a backup power source when needed most. Recent winter storms, wildfires and hurricanes have underscored the vulnerability of current power grids, highlighting situations where two-way charging could have provided valuable support.
“With the integration of electric vehicles to the grid, this can solve situations where we have…power outages. So in this case, you can actually use your vehicle as a backup,” Abdallah said.
“The energy grid goes down, it’s cold or there’s a wildfire or something else that’s happened,” Shirgaokar said. “You have your own car that can power up your house for a couple of days.”
The implementation of bidirectional charging poses challenges, including socio-economic barriers associated with owning an EV in the first place. While lower-income communities would benefit most from the potential electric bill savings this technology could bring, many in these areas do not have the means to purchase the vehicle needed to access these benefits.
“I’m a university professor, my spouse works, we could, in theory, get a bidirectional charger for our garage, but are we willing to spend $7,000 to do that? $12,000 to do that? The answer is no,” Shirgaokar said. “But, communities in need often can leverage these services through subsidies that exist at the local and state government. So I’m hopeful.”
There are also concerns from utility companies regarding how two-way charging might impact their bottom line. Though researchers at CU Denver have said providers are engaging with them on the development of this technology, the possibility of its wider-spread adoption down the road could come at the expense of energy company profits.
“Utility companies are observing this very carefully,” Shirgaokar said. “They know that there is a risk to their power. I think they are playing along at this stage, which is wonderful, because we need them at the table as the key stakeholder. If enough players are in, in a smaller community, we’re able to micro grid, then you could actually make a dent in in the monopolies that utility companies are evolving towards.”
Bidirectional charging still has a long way to go before hitting the mainstream market. Though it has yet to become a standard feature in EVs, and the CU Denver study is only in the first of its three years of research time, experts are hopeful about the future of this technology.
“I think this could really change the narrative going forward on energy, and on how consumers think of energy pricing, what bills they get at the end of every month,” Shirgaokar said. “I think that there is great potential for this.”