September 15, 2026

Vehicle-to-grid projects can be delayed or made more expensive by limited distribution capacity and traditional interconnection practices that plan around worst-case grid conditions. Because those conditions may occur only during limited periods, substantial grid capacity can remain underutilized while projects are still required to pay for costly upgrades. Flexible grid connections offer an alternative by allowing EV charging and exports to adjust when local constraints arise, making better use of existing infrastructure while reducing or deferring the need for upgrades.

V2G News has previously covered the increasingly important role of flexible grid connections in unlocking additional capacity for EV charging and V2G without compromising distribution-system limits.

V2G News spoke with Nachum Sadan, Founder and CEO of GridEdge Networks, about how the company’s DERCOM platform applies this approach to solar, storage, EV charging, and V2G. Sadan sees flexible interconnection, local grid monitoring and control, and stronger interoperability as important building blocks for scaling bidirectional charging.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity

September 15, 2026

Much of the discussion around bidirectional charging has focused on the home. A vehicle sits in a driveway or garage, connected to a bidirectional charger that can provide backup power, participate in a utility program, or send electricity back to the grid during periods of high demand.

A new academic study published in the journal Energy Conversion and Management, “Assessing Bidirectional EV Charging for Employer Parking: A Case Study of the MAHLE chargeBIG Demonstrator in Stuttgart,” looks at a different setting: the workplace.

Researchers from the Stuttgart Institute of Human Factors and Technology Management, MAHLE New Mobility Solutions, MAHLE chargeBIG, and Munster Technological University examined how bidirectional charging could work in a large employer parking facility. Their case study used the MAHLE chargeBIG demonstrator in Stuttgart, Germany, a workplace installation with 101 EV charging points serving a 660-space company parking facility.

The study is important because workplace charging has a different operating profile than residential charging. Vehicles tend to arrive in the morning and remain parked for many hours before employees leave in the late afternoon. That creates a long window in which EV batteries can potentially be managed as flexible energy resources without interfering with drivers’ transportation needs.

San Francisco Unified School District has begun deploying the first 104 electric school buses in a planned transition to an all-electric fleet, with another 134 buses expected next year. Operated by Zum, the buses will be equipped with vehicle-to-grid capability, allowing their batteries to send electricity back to the grid when they are not transporting students. Zum says the V2G system will ultimately provide approximately 3 GWh of capacity, potentially turning one of the country’s largest electric school bus deployments into a significant distributed energy resource while also reducing emissions from student transportation.

9/10/2026

Volkswagen’s 2027 ID. Buzz Pro is set to add bidirectional charging capability in the U.S., allowing the electric van to support both vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid applications when paired with compatible equipment. The ID. Buzz uses a 91 kWh battery in its U.S. long-wheelbase configuration, providing substantial capacity for home backup or future grid services. According to the report, V2H operation will use a compatible bidirectional DC wallbox, while V2G participation will depend on utility programs and local market requirements. Volkswagen notes that bidirectional functionality remains subject to local market testing, highlighting the continuing importance of compatible charging equipment, interconnection requirements, and utility programs in translating vehicle capability into usable V2G services.

9/10/2026

The global market for bidirectional onboard chargers is projected to grow from about $645 million in 2025 to more than $1 billion by 2032 as automakers add vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid capabilities to new EV platforms. The technology is particularly important for V2G AC, where the vehicle’s onboard power electronics convert DC electricity from the battery into grid-compatible AC power, rather than relying on an external bidirectional DC charger to perform that conversion. The report highlights advances in power density, efficiency, silicon-carbide semiconductors, communications, and software-controlled energy flows as manufacturers develop increasingly integrated onboard charging systems capable of supporting both charging and energy export.

9/7/2026

China-based Hoymiles, a Hangzhou-headquartered clean energy technology company specializing in microinverters, energy storage, and smart energy systems, has launched a 22 kW bidirectional DC charger designed to integrate EVs into its residential solar and storage ecosystem. The new V2X charger works with the company’s HiOne all-in-one battery energy storage system and supports both vehicle-to-home backup power and vehicle-to-grid applications, including peak shaving and virtual power plant dispatch. By handling power conversion in the charger rather than relying on the vehicle’s onboard charger, the system can also directly transfer DC power between solar, stationary storage, and a compatible EV, reducing conversion steps while turning the vehicle battery into another controllable home energy resource.

9/7/2026

German energy supplier Enercity says its V2G field trial with 12 Volkswagen ID. Buzz vans has successfully moved into real-world electricity-market operation, with the aggregated fleet already earning revenue by feeding stored energy back to the grid. Together, the vehicles provide more than 0.1 MW of capacity, allowing Enercity to market them collectively as mobile storage. The company says the biggest obstacles to scaling V2G are now less about vehicle and charging technology and more about energy-market processes such as metering, balancing, billing, and settlement — suggesting that the next challenge is moving from technically proven pilots to commercial fleet-scale deployment.

9/9/2026

Europe’s electric vehicle fleet already contains an estimated 600 GWh of battery capacity, far exceeding the roughly 60 GWh of stationary storage connected to the grid in 2024, according to Bruegel’s new European Clean Tech Atlas. While stationary storage has continued to grow, surpassing 100 GWh by the end of 2025, the comparison highlights the enormous reservoir of energy already sitting in EV batteries. Bruegel estimates that, if fully available to the grid, Europe’s EV fleet could theoretically supply average European electricity demand for nearly two hours. Realizing that potential would depend on widespread deployment of smart charging and vehicle-to-grid technology, but the numbers underscore the scale of the resource V2G could eventually unlock.

9/7/2026

UK charging-payment platform Paua and Norwegian EV charging manufacturer Zaptec have partnered to offer fleet operators an integrated charging ecosystem spanning home, workplace, depot, and public charging. The platform combines Paua’s payment and reimbursement services with Zaptec’s charging hardware and fleet-management capabilities, including the Zaptec Go 2 AC charger, which is designed to be V2G ready. While the partnership does not yet represent an active V2G fleet deployment, it illustrates how bidirectional capability is increasingly being built into broader fleet-electrification platforms, potentially allowing operators to add smart charging, grid balancing, and other V2G services as compatible vehicles and programs become available.

9/8/2026