Oncor Electric Delivery, a Texas-based public electricity company, and Toyota Motor North America announced December 15 that they would work together to research how electric vehicles could connect to the grid as power sources. As electric vehicles increase in popularity, demand for electricity from the grid is expected to rise, and electric-vehicle manufacturers say that vehicle-to-grid or V2G technology, which uses parked electric vehicles as temporary batteries for the grid to draw from during peak demand, could help keep future grids reliable.
Toyota’s Electric Vehicle Charging Solutions team will run the project from Oncor’s testing microgrid in Dallas, Texas, just south of Toyota North America’s headquarters. An initial phase of the project will connect a battery electric vehicle along with solar panels and battery storage units to the microgrid to “better understand the interconnectivity between BEVs and utilities,” according to a joint statement.
A second phase, according to Toyota, is expected for 2023 and will include a pilot involving electric vehicles at homes and businesses in Oncor’s service area.
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