Toyota is the latest automaker to invest in electric vehicles as support for the power grid.
The Japanese company at its North American headquarters in Plano, Texas, is working on a pilot program to optimize vehicle-to-grid charging technology, InsideEVs reported. It has similar schemes going on in San Diego and Maryland.
"Working with Oncor, a huge energy utility in the Lone Star State, and using Fermata Energy's bidirectional EV charger, a Japanese-spec bZ4X test vehicle is currently putting energy back into the grid," the outlet stated.
The move is part of a broader push to shore up infrastructure as demand for electricity rises. Climate challenges such as extreme heat, as well as increasingly frequent and severe storms, data center demands, and outdated equipment are straining the country's electrical grid.
InsideEVs pointed out that while it may seem counterintuitive to count on EVs — which must draw power from the grid to operate — to help solve this problem, bidirectional charging actually makes them incredibly valuable.
In a news release, Toyota compared the potential of the United States' four million electric vehicles to 40 nuclear power reactors. For reference, there are 94 nuclear reactors in the U.S., according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. They accounted for 18.2% of the electricity generated in 2023.
Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, General Motors, and other manufacturers already sell EVs with V2G capabilities, per Inside EVs, though Toyota does not.
The company said the pilot program began in 2022. It is now studying how EVs can stabilize the grid during peak demand, provide backup power to homes during outages, and save people money by storing power at off-peak prices for later use. This could reduce customer costs by extending the lifespans of transmission lines and transformers, Toyota added.
The bZ4X is connected to a platform that analyzes energy prices and grid conditions to decide when to charge and when to feed power back to the grid. Utilities have a huge stake in the process, too, with San Diego Gas and Electric in addition to Pepco in on the research.
"This pilot is a critical step in exploring how connected vehicles can transform the broader energy ecosystem, delivering value to customers, the grid, and communities," Toyota Motor North America senior vice president of enterprise strategy and solutions Christopher Yang said. "By enabling bidirectional charging, we're exploring how we can help customers potentially save money while also reducing carbon emissions from the grid — a win-win for drivers and the environment."
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