The Time is Now: The Critical Need To Permit Bidirectional EV Charging

Integrating solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, electric vehicles (EVs), and cars at home (CAH) offers significant benefits, particularly when EVs are equipped with bidirectional charging capabilities. This synergy substantially reduces operational and capital expenses, emissions, and payback times, with the greatest reductions achieved when all three elements are combined.

For individual households, bidirectional EV charging notably cuts down these metrics. For example, payback time can be reduced from 14 years to just 2 years. Additional advantages include improved grid resilience and greater energy independence.

On a national scale, even a modest 30% adoption rate with unidirectional charging could cut annual emissions by 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide​. This reduction doubles with bidirectional charging, indicating that the actual benefits could be even greater. Therefore, adopting a single policy change to enable bidirectional EV charging can deliver substantial environmental and economic benefits.