Electric cars won't just solve tailpipe emissions — they may even strengthen the US power grid, experts say

It's reasonable to wonder how much more demand the power grid can take as the US prepares for a future filled with electric vehicles. California's grid operator told customers to limit charging their cars during a recent heat wave.

Energy and transportation experts say that utilities are able to handle more clean cars with some planning. Electric SUVs, trucks, and buses can help strengthen the grid.

EVs can store energy for when it's needed most

The batteries of electric cars can become valuable assets to the grid when they are parked.

In the future, millions of vehicles could use special chargers to absorb energy when it's plentiful and release it back to the grid to help utilities manage spikes in demand. V2G is what this vision is based on.

V2G is expected to help the country off of dirty energy sources. When the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing the lights need to be turned on. He claimed that electric cars could do that.

"If we want to go to 100% renewable energy, we need a lot of batteries," Preindl said. Cars seem to be the only viable solution right now.

The National Resources Defense Council estimates that 14 million electric vehicles will be on California's roads by the end of the century, enough to power all of the state's homes for three days.

There's a long road ahead

Although V2G is being implemented in limited ways, there are still hurdles to overcome.

Andrew Meintz, a chief engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said that for regular EV owners to supply energy to the grid on a large scale, they will need to standardize the process. He said that participants would need to be paid by utilities.

V2G could be used with large fleets in the short term. Amazon has the money and sway to work with utilities, vehicle makers, and charging companies to iron out the bugs.

EVs are already helping out the grid on a small scale

V2G has been used as a revenue source by Highland Electric Fleets. In Massachusetts, its two V2G-enabled school buses pushed power to the grid almost daily to help the local utility handle periods of high energy consumption. More extensive V2G projects are planned in Vermont, Maryland and other places.

Highland Electric Fleets

Let's use the buses for what they can do. The batteries are large. They don't do anything because the routes are very predictable. The firm is working to automate things, but it is getting email requests to reduce energy.

It will take a long time before we see millions of EV helping the grid. Some vehicles can share energy. Emergency power can be provided to customers' homes if they have the right at- home power source. GeneralMotors promised to do the same.

Edward J. Klock-McCook told Insider that this kind of capability could benefit the grid in the same way that V2G would. Homeowners could supply their own electricity if they had big batteries in their cars and trucks.