China Now Conducting 'Extensive' Vehicle-to-Grid Trials

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Discussions about Vehicle-to-grid have been around for as long as I’ve been reading about electric vehicles. The concept is simple: EVs have big batteries, cars are parked most of the day (about 95% of the time), and those batteries can be used to help the grid cope with fluctuations in electricity demand and supply throughout the day and night. We’ve seen trials around the world over the last decade, but nothing is happening at scale yet. That said…

If we were to talk about where the first large-scale program would be implemented, I’m sure we’d quickly put China at the top of the list. China does everything bigger in cleantech: the largest solar farms, the largest solar companies, the most wind turbine production, the most EV production and sales. When it comes to electric vehicles in particular, China’s EV market is about the same size as the rest of the world’s EV market combined! It can also make major top-down changes faster than any other major economy. So let’s get to the news.

“China launched its first large-scale vehicle-to-grid (V2G) interaction in an entire province, involving more than 1,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in the eastern province of Jiangsu for off-peak charging and reverse discharging, demonstrating the potential of EVs as mobile power banks,” the Xinhua writes the news service.

Now, this still isn't the massive program I discussed above. This is another moderately large pilot program. I guess you could call it “large scale” — it's 1,000+ EVs, not 100. But it's not 1 million, either.

I would also like to note that no one is forced to participate in this pilot program. EV owners were enticed by charging discounts from the State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd., which attracted 1,277 electric vehicles via 482 charging stations.

“Such a V2G approach can release a load of 12,000 kilowatts during peak electricity consumption per day, effectively reducing peak electricity consumption by 17,000 kilowatt-hours, enough to power 2,100 households for a day, the company said.”

Interestingly, it is precisely that peak demand for electricity that is most expensive for the grid. It is when you have to have extra power plants on standby for a short ramp-up and peak electricity production that you get really expensive electricity. Because 1) no one else can supply you with that electricity and you need it, the supplier can charge a house and a boat; and 2) if your power plant is not producing and selling electricity most of the time, it has to charge a house and a boat when it is! The best way to reduce electricity costs: eliminate the need for large peak power suppliers to charge a house and a boat to give you electricity at 6pm. Flexible V2G programs like this can do just that.

Some people are critical or skeptical of V2G because who wants to risk prematurely deteriorating their EV batteries? However, we are seeing EV batteries last a long time and there is also a point where many of us today will shell out the extra money for stealthy use of our EV batteries while parked and be prepared to see how much capacity our batteries will have left in 3, 5, or 10 years. Personally, I am not as concerned about battery degradation and I think there is still a lot of overhype about how much range an EV needs. I have had the lowest range Tesla for 5 years and still see no reason to spend thousands of dollars more on a longer range vehicle. (And I got the white vegan leather seats for an extra $1,000 and would definitely do it again! They keep the car much cooler, are super soft, and look great. A bigger battery would do… almost nothing for me.) So yeah, if someone offered me money to occasionally use some of my car's battery, I'd take it.

State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power seems satisfied with the trial. I look forward to them reaching 1 million participants.

By the way, right after I wrote that, I read this: “Ruan added that the number of electric vehicles in Jiangsu is expected to exceed 10 million by 2030. 'If just 10 percent of these vehicles participate in reverse discharge, they can provide more than 1 million kilowatts of peak shaving capacity, which is equivalent to connecting a 1 million kilowatt 'portable power bank' to the grid.'” Of course, 10% of 10 million is 1 million. I'm glad to see that Ruan and the State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power think the same way I do!