V2G Insights

From Pilots to Platforms: Russell Vare on the State of V2G and Bidirectional Charging

February 3, 2026

This edition of V2G News features our second industry leader interview, part of an ongoing series that brings firsthand insight into the strategies, challenges, and breakthroughs shaping V2G adoption. We welcome suggestions for future interviewees. Don't hesitate to get in touch with Steve if there are leaders you would like to see featured.

Introduction

V2G News sat down with Russell Vare, Vice President of Vehicle Grid Integration, North America, at The Mobility House, to discuss the company’s role in scaling managed charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) solutions for fleets, the lessons learned from more than a decade of V2G pilots, and what it will take to move bidirectional charging from demonstration projects to durable market offerings in the U.S.

Vare has been working at the intersection of electric vehicles and the grid for more than two decades. His career spans automakers, aggregators, and early V2G pioneers, with hands-on experience across vehicle-to-home (V2H), second-life batteries, and large-scale fleet V2G deployments. In his current role, he leads The Mobility House’s vehicle-grid integration strategy in North America, working at the intersection of fleets, utilities, and grid services.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

V2G Intelligence

The Huskies Are Warming Up: Why Connecticut Is Poised to Scale V2G

February 3, 2026

In our 2026 predictions, V2G News forecast that five states are likely to break out of the pilot phase and begin scaling vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and bidirectional charging in a durable, programmatic way. Connecticut was high on that list, not because it has the most electric vehicles or the largest utilities, but because it has quietly assembled something far more valuable: a regulatory model that treats innovation as a pathway to scale, not a detour.

This article launches a new State Profile series focused on where bidirectional charging and V2G are most likely to move beyond demonstrations and into real markets. Connecticut is our first stop because it offers a clear signal to technology providers, automakers, utilities, and investors alike: this is a state that knows how to experiment, and, more importantly, how to integrate what it learns.

Like the University of Connecticut’s Huskies, Connecticut’s V2G strategy is disciplined, methodical, and built for the long game. The state has funded early pilots through a purpose-built regulatory sandbox, studied how bidirectional EVs interact with the grid, and then taken the critical next step, directing a formal process to integrate V2G into existing utility programs. That combination is still rare in the U.S. But it’s exactly what scaling looks like.

V2G Finds—US

Who’s Participating: Schools, Municipalities, and Residents Anchor Massachusetts’ V2X Pilot Program

The newly announced participants in the Massachusetts Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Demonstration program highlight a deliberate mix of public fleets, municipal sites, and residential customers designed to test bidirectional charging across real-world use cases. V2G News covered the pilot goals and structure in Volume 1 | Issue 6. Five school districts (Acton-Boxborough, Arlington, Boston, Concord, and Lincoln) will deploy V2X chargers alongside electric school buses, providing a high-visibility platform to evaluate grid services, backup power, and fleet-based value streams. Four municipal projects, spanning both investor-owned and municipal light department territories, further expand the program’s geographic and operational diversity.

Complementing these public-sector deployments, 30 residential participants from across the Commonwealth will receive bidirectional chargers, with more than one-third of total program funding directed to households in environmental justice communities. This participant mix is central to the program’s objectives: generating practical, transferable insights across customer classes while ensuring equitable access to emerging V2X infrastructure. By grounding the demonstration in schools, towns, and homes, not just pilots in controlled settings, the program creates a broad evidence base to inform future utility programs, compensation mechanisms, and statewide scaling efforts.

2/2/2026

From Smart Charging to Virtual Power Plants: The Mobility House’s Newest U.S. Offering

As EV adoption accelerates in the United States, the challenge is no longer simply deploying chargers; it is turning plugged-in vehicles into reliable, utility-aligned grid resources. The recent unveiling of The Mobility House’s Cascade EV Aggregator reflects this shift, positioning EVs and charging infrastructure as dispatchable assets that can support demand response, load management, and bidirectional grid services at scale. The current edition of V2G News includes an interview with Russell Vare that directly references this announcement, placing Cascade in the broader context of how aggregation platforms, proven fleet use cases like electric school buses, and close coordination with utilities are essential to moving V2G from pilots to durable virtual power plants in the U.S. market.

1/28/2026

EVs Move From Grid Challenge to Grid Tool as Managed Charging and V2G Mature

In a recent Grist story published in partnership with the Los Angeles Times (via LAist), reporter Matt Simon examines how electric vehicles are beginning to shift from being a growing strain on local power grids to a flexible resource for utilities. Drawing on new Brattle Group analysis based on real-world EV charging data from Washington State, the article shows how active managed charging can reduce evening peak demand, save drivers hundreds of dollars annually, and delay costly grid upgrades. It also points to vehicle-to-grid as the next evolutionary step, allowing EVs to export power during peak periods and support grid reliability. For V2G News readers, the significance is clear: managed charging is laying the operational and customer-trust foundation that will ultimately enable V2G to scale.

1/21/2026

Bidirectional Converter Modules Emerge as a Growth Segment

New market research highlights growing investment in bidirectional charger converter modules, reflecting rising manufacturer interest in supporting vehicle-to-grid functionality at both fleet depots and public charging sites. The report points to advances in power electronics, modular charger design, and wide-bandgap semiconductors as key enablers of two-way power flow, alongside continued expansion of fast-charging infrastructure. While the analysis focuses on hardware trends rather than program design or grid integration, it underscores that V2G capability is increasingly being built into charging equipment as part of the broader EV infrastructure build-out.

2/2/2026

V2G Finds—Global
CATL Signals V2G at Scale Through Strategic Partnership with China’s Largest Provincial Transit Operator

CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, has taken a significant step toward normalizing vehicle-to-grid at scale by signing a strategic cooperation agreement with Fujian Automobile Transportation Group (Minyun Group), one of China’s largest state-owned public transport operators. The partnership moves beyond a traditional battery supply relationship to focus on integrated urban energy and mobility systems, combining fleet operations, battery swapping networks, and V2G technology. While details remain high-level, the signal is clear: V2G is being positioned as core infrastructure for centrally managed transit fleets, not a fringe pilot. For the V2G market globally, this development reinforces a growing pattern: large, predictable fleets, aligned with public policy and vertically integrated partners, are likely to be where bidirectional charging and grid services scale first.

1/27/2025

Ghent Joins Europe’s V2G Vanguard with New Bidirectional Charging Plaza

Ghent is becoming the latest European city to treat electric vehicles not just as loads on the grid, but as active energy assets. Following similar pilots in Utrecht and Eindhoven, the city has approved a new vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging plaza that will allow both shared and privately owned EVs to feed power back into the grid during peak demand. Backed by local, provincial, and EU funding and developed in partnership with Ghent University and grid operator Fluvius, the pilot reflects a broader shift in how cities are responding to growing grid constraints. What makes Ghent’s approach notable is its explicit framing of V2G as infrastructure for the “new normal”, a future in which EVs routinely support grid stability and renewable integration, rather than simply drawing power. As European cities continue to move from experimentation toward repeatable models, Ghent’s project adds another concrete data point showing how urban V2G can transition from pilot to practice.

1/26/2026

From Living Lab to Grid Asset: A Swedish Housing Cooperative Tests V2G at Community Scale

A small housing association in Hudiksvall, Sweden, is offering a clear glimpse of what everyday vehicle-to-grid deployment can look like when technology, residents, and energy markets align. Through a living-lab pilot combining bidirectional EVs, smart chargers, and energy management software, the project demonstrates how parked vehicles can deliver flexibility, resilience, and emissions reductions at the community level. While still firmly in pilot territory and shaped by Europe’s more mature V2G policy environment, the project underscores the growing role EV batteries can play alongside stationary storage. Its real significance lies less in technical novelty than in what it signals: that V2G is moving from abstract potential toward practical, human-scale applications, and that scaling will depend on cross-sector coordination, market access, and repeatable models rather than technology alone.

1/27/2026

Volvo’s EX60 Brings Bidirectional Charging Into the Mainstream Mid-Size EV Market

With the world premiere of the all-electric EX60, Volvo has delivered its clearest signal yet on bidirectional charging: V2G-ready capability integrated from day one into a high-volume, mid-size SUV. Built on the company’s clean-sheet SPA3 architecture, the EX60 combines long range, fast DC charging, and a structural cell-to-body battery with a standard 22 kW bidirectional onboard charger designed to support V2L, V2H, and V2G use cases. While Volvo has not yet announced timelines for grid-connected applications, the strategic importance is hard to miss. Bidirectional capability is no longer being treated as an experimental feature limited to niche models or demonstration fleets. By embedding export-ready hardware into one of its most commercially significant vehicle segments, Volvo is helping normalize bidirectional charging as a core EV function rather than a future upgrade.

1/21/2026