Interesting https://www.greenbiz.com/article/vehicle-grid-pilots-soar-where-will-they-land?
But currently, grid-discharging bidirectional charging is trapped at the pilot stage. Don’t hold your breath waiting for the widespread use of individually owned vehicles discharging power to the grid. Even the largest EV manufacturer in the U.S., Tesla, hedged on providing bidirectional capacity by 2025. Experts, investors and utilities appear to have settled on school bus fleets as the best use case for V2G, for now. And fleet operators are overwhelmed with the arduous task of electrifying to anticipate advances in V2G technology.
One company that has seized the opportunity to bypass branded, OEM-specific bidirectional charging is dcbel.
The San Mateo, California-based dcbel offers the “world's first affordable and universal bidirectional EV charger,” according to the website. I spoke with John Sarter, West Coast onboarding and support lead for dcbel at the recent climate policy summit in Sacramento where he demonstrated the product. In an email Sarter dove into more detail about the charger:
“It will partner with and support any EV for bidirectional charging. It is also a powerful solar inverter, allowing extremely fast DC direct charging and discharging of EV’s. Dcbel's software optimizes the sourcing of solar, grid, and battery energy used within the home, saving money in the process, by using the EV as an energy asset to use at times of peak energy use when grid energy is expensive.”
The idea of a universal bidirectional charging system sounds enticing. Although, Sarter readily admits that currently, only an EV that is built to the CHAdeMO charging standard — the charging port standard developed by Japanese automakers — can perform bidirectional power flow. “Once the other existing standards including CCS [Combined Charging System] are formally revised, dcbel hardware can integrate the bidirectional charging protocol changes via an over the air update,” Sarter said. He expects that to take place “by 2025 or sooner.” That said, its product will soon be “the first of its kind to be UL certified.” Once certified by Underwriters Laboratories, it will be available to order. It is currently available for pre-order starting at $4,999, similar in price to the Ford package. The company will begin shipping once the product is UL-certified, but the CCS bidirectional charging feature will require an over-the-air update after the CCS is revised.
One way to avoid this is thorough software that allows managed charging that responds to grid conditions through a Level 2 smart charger. This would enable VGI without requiring a smart meter upgrade. Likewise, allowing the vehicle itself to participate in managed charging programs through its telematics would save consumers the costs of upgrading to a networked Level 2 smart charger. Both managed charging scenarios would allow the charging session to respond to grid conditions, saving consumers money while avoiding straining the grid. Pilot programs exist to test these concepts.