The funny thing about new technology is that we instantly dream up use-cases that somehow become a reality instantly, in our minds at least. Consider bi-directional charging–the idea that you can take the energy stored in your EVs that are connected to a charger and then sell it back to the utility. Easy money, right?
But not so fast. Is it possible? Sure. Is it a reality? No. At least, not yet.
“We’re building for a future that’s yet to come,” explained Shawn McLaughlin, founder and CEO, Emporia Energy when he sat down with the Amped EV Podcast crew for an interview. “When you talk about how common bi-directional charging is today, it’s not. The whole idea, again, around bidirectional charging, if you think about any of your home devices that take a battery to operate–you’re pulling power from the grid through your house and charging your device. Power’s going one way. Bidirectional is ability to pull that power back out of your device or back out of that battery in your device, into your home, and then eventually all the way back into the grid so you can send power both directions, i.e., bidirectional. That’s the whole concept.”
Pilot programs have been running but it’s early days. Watch the video above to learn more about the technology, where it could be available, what it will take to bring it to market and the ROI of all of those efforts once bi-directional charging is commonplace.
