Energy and transportation experts say that with some planning, utilities are fully capable of handling more clean cars plugging in. Better yet, electric SUVs, trucks, and buses can strengthen the grid if deployed smartly.
Someday, millions of vehicles could use special bidirectional chargers to absorb energy when it’s plentiful and release it back to the grid as needed, helping utilities manage heatwaves and other spikes in demand. This vision rests on something called vehicle-to-grid technology, or V2G.
If much of the US fleet goes electric, the amount of battery storage available is enormous: The National Resources Defense Council estimates that the 14 million EVs expected to be on California’s roads by 2035 could power all the state’s homes for three days.