Department of Energy asks how EVS can give back to energy grid

The push comes as more Americans are buying electric vehicles. Nearly 150,000 were sold in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a Kelley Blue Book report, and EV market share rose to a record 4.5 percent of new-car sales.

But the urgency goes beyond light-duty passenger vehicles. The bipartisan infrastructure bill enacted in November allocated $5 billion for the purchase of electric school buses, for example, and the first $500 million is expected to become available within weeks.

Between cars and buses, “everybody now knows this electrification thing is real and is going to happen, and they want to figure it out,” said Kevin Matthews, head of electrification at First Student Inc., the operator of more than 42,000 school buses for approximately 1,100 school districts across North America.

“Utilities know they will have to charge these things, and when you look at fleets with 300 to 400 buses on a single lot, that’s a big issue for the utilities that provide energy to charge that,” he said. “So understanding how they can work with us can really assist them in not only getting more buses electrified, but they can then take that knowledge and apply it to other types of fleets.”

The scope of the opportunity is expected to substantially expand. The International Energy Agency estimates there will be 130 million electric vehicles on roads globally by 2030. While they will be thirsty for electricity, the Department of Energy estimates they’ll also contain 10 times the amount of storage needed by the grid.

Those vehicles could function as mobile batteries, supplying power to hospitals and water-treatment systems during emergencies. In everyday use, the vehicles could supply power that stabilizes the grid when energy from renewable resources is not available.

Vehicle owners could use their EVs to run their homes during power outages or machinery at remote job sites — two uses that Ford has touted for its electric F-150 Lightning pickup. Fleet operators could reduce overhead costs and earn money by selling their vehicle electricity back to the grid.