Session Overview

Electric vehicles are assuming a larger role in the energy system. Public discussion around electrification continues to focus on range, charging access, purchase cost, performance, and tailpipe emissions, but the growing capability of the vehicle battery creates an additional source of value. When a compatible vehicle connects through bidirectional equipment and operates through secure software, its stored energy can support a home during an outage and potentially contribute flexibility to the wider electricity system.

Drawing on more than two decades of experience at Consolidated Edison, Kapur presents the opportunity from the perspective of both the utility operator and the automobile manufacturer. His experience with the design, operation, and modernization of New York’s electric distribution system informs a practical examination of how vehicles can interact with homes, utilities, customers, and the grid.

The session distinguishes vehicle-to-home capability from broader vehicle-to-grid participation. A compatible vehicle can already provide backup power to a properly equipped residence, while grid participation depends on utility integration, approved interconnection, communication standards, customer consent, secure software, and appropriate operating frameworks. Kapur points to GM’s work with PG&E in California and DTE Energy in Michigan as examples of how the technology is progressing through real-world deployment.

The discussion also extends beyond residential vehicle aggregation. Kapur describes GM’s work with Peak Energy on sodium-ion battery cells for grid-scale stationary storage, reflecting a wider strategy of matching battery chemistry to the requirements of each application. Vehicle batteries and stationary storage serve different purposes, but both contribute to a more flexible and resilient energy system.

A More Connected Energy Future

The session presents electrification as a development that reaches beyond any individual vehicle or manufacturing facility. Electric vehicles continue to serve their primary transportation function, while bidirectional capability allows the battery to provide additional value when the vehicle is connected. The result is a closer relationship among mobility, household energy, and grid operations.

Vehicle-to-grid technology does not replace generation, transmission, distribution investment, or stationary storage. It adds another source of flexibility by making fuller use of battery capacity already entering the economy through transportation. As the technology develops, the vehicle becomes part of a wider energy architecture that connects the consumer, the home, the utility, and the grid.