PG&E to Launch Three New Pilot Programs

California-based Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced that the company will develop three new pilot programs to evaluate how bidirectional electric vehicles (EVs) and chargers can supply power to the electric grid and other benefits to customers.

The new pilots are different and additional to the partnerships announced in March with both General Motors and Ford Motor Company. They will help inform the Department of Energy about the Memorandum of Understanding that PG&E and a collaboration of industry, government, and labor leaders signed last month to focus on accelerating “vehicle-to-everything” technologies.

Every one of the new pilot programs offers a financial incentive for customers taking part and additional benefits for disadvantaged communities. All three are expected to be available to customers in 2022 and 2023, and continue until incentives run out.

“As electric vehicle adoption continues to grow, bidirectional charging technology has huge potential for supporting our customers and the electric grid broadly. We’re excited to launch these new pilots, which will add to our existing work testing and demonstrating the possibility of this technology,” said Jason Glickman, Executive Vice President, Engineering, Planning & Strategy, PG&E.

Bidirectional charging technology allows EVs to take power from the grid or solar system, and revert it back to the grid. While EVs already provide customers with cleaner air and reduced maintenance costs, testing emerging technologies to optimize EV integration with the electric grid could provide further value to all PG&E customers.

PG&E has 400,000 EVs registered in its service area, along with the quickly growing number of EVs across California.