This CEC-funded project will bring cutting-edge EV charging infrastructure to underserved California communities

California’s grid is at a crossroads (no pun intended!) when it comes to electric vehicles: charging up California’s EVs could become a strain on our power grid, or all the battery storage offered by EVs could become a huge opportunity.

If the power stored in California’s electric vehicles could be fed back into the grid when it’s needed most (commonly known as bidirectional charging), we could reduce our fossil fuel use, reduce blackouts, and provide back-up power during emergencies. Allowing EVs to feed their stored power back into the grid could also allow owners to earn money for the energy they provide, bringing EVs within financial reach for more Californians.

TEC is working to demonstrate that bidirectional charging not only works, but can be a great opportunity for underserved communities. This summer, we’re launching a new project, in partnership with Gridscape Solutions, to install EV chargers with vehicle-to-building (V2B) capabilities at public facilities in California’s underserved communities.

Thank you to the California Energy Commission’s Electric Program Investment Charge program for the $4 million in grant funding that will make this work possible! We look forward to leading this project’s outreach and engagement efforts and getting to know the communities that will benefit from cutting-edge new EV charging infrastructure.

Want to learn more about bidirectional electric vehicle charging? Check out this article from Canary Media, and be sure to follow TEC on Twitter to keep up with project updates!