Can Electric Vehicle Owners Make Money From the Grid?

In August of this year, at the Nantianzi Lake Super Charging and Swapping Station in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, an electric vehicle owner used a V2G charging pile to discharge electricity back to the grid, earning 60 yuan in one hour.

The car owner stated that they use a home charging pile to charge their car, with the cost of electricity being 0.45 yuan per kilowatt-hour. According to the V2G discharge revenue rules of the local large-scale vehicle-to-grid interaction project, from 4 PM to midnight, the price per kilowatt-hour can reach 3 yuan.

With the gradual proliferation of V2G charging stations in various regions, more electric vehicle owners are eager to try this emerging technology.

State Grid China Reinsurance Center Vehicle-to-Grid Interaction Demonstration Station (Photo by Liu Shanshan)

In the B4 parking lot of the China Reinsurance Center in Xicheng District, Beijing, there is also a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) demonstration station, featuring nine 15kW DC V2G bi-directional charging and discharging piles.

According to the charging and discharging price list posted on the V2G bidirectional charging and discharging station, each kilowatt-hour discharged can earn a subsidy of 0.7 yuan. Currently, the electricity cost for private charging stations in Beijing follows the residential electricity price for combined meter users, which is 0.4733 yuan per kilowatt-hour. Taking an electric vehicle with a battery capacity of 52 kilowatt-hours as an example, after deducting the electricity required for commuting, assuming each discharge is 30 kilowatt-hours, with one charge and discharge cycle per working day and an average of 250 working days per year, a simple calculation results in an annual net income of approximately 1,700 yuan.

However, some electric vehicle owners living nearby clearly stated that this amount of income is not enough to entice them. "I am more concerned about whether frequent charging and discharging affects battery health." Additionally, since the number of V2G bidirectional charging and discharging stations is currently limited, time cost is also an important factor affecting the participation of more car owners.

V2G, what exactly is it?

V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid), also known as vehicle-to-grid interaction, mainly includes intelligent orderly charging and discharging. Through energy interaction modes, it realizes the bidirectional energy flow between electric vehicles and the grid. New energy vehicle owners can charge and store energy during off-peak periods and "discharge and sell electricity" during peak periods, earning profits by leveraging the difference in peak and off-peak electricity prices.

At the 2025 China Automotive Industry Development (TEDA) International Forum, Ouyang Minggao, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a professor at Tsinghua University, stated in his keynote speech that electric vehicles will achieve free charging and may even become money-making tools, with pure electric vehicles dominating the market. Meanwhile, the field of vehicle-grid interaction is actually an untapped high-value area.

Ouyang Minggao stated that currently, lithium iron phosphate batteries for vehicles can reach 3000 full charge and discharge cycles when their capacity degrades to 70%, with a calendar life generally ranging from 10 to 15 years. Based on a single range of 500 kilometers, 500 cycles can satisfy the total mileage of a typical family sedan for 10 to 15 years, or up to 250,000 kilometers. The surplus of 2500 cycles in the battery pack (with a capacity of 70 kilowatt-hours) can store nearly 150,000 kilowatt-hours for "electric trading."

"As green electricity gradually becomes the mainstay of power consumption, electric vehicles will truly become the most energy-efficient new energy vehicles," predicted Ouyang Minggao. By 2050, the number of electric vehicles is expected to reach at least 350 million, with each vehicle having an average capacity of 70 kilowatt-hours, resulting in an onboard energy storage capacity exceeding 24 billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to the current total daily electricity consumption in China.

"The importance of V2G will become prominent in the short term and is expected to become one of the hot topics in China's automotive industry, with its popularity potentially comparable to the 'DeepSeek moment,'" said Li Lili, Deputy Director of the Institute of Optical Storage and Direct Flexibility Application Technology at the Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute of Tsinghua University, at the China Automotive Industry Development (TEDA) International Forum. "However, at present, this emerging topic has not received enough attention, and there is a significant gap in awareness and emphasis." Li Lili called on car companies to increase their focus and investment in the V2G field and actively explore the opportunities behind this major transformation.

Industry insiders generally believe that in the future, peak shaving and valley filling, as well as vehicle-to-grid interaction, will gradually become development trends. Is the era of electric vehicle owners "fleecing" the power grid about to arrive?

The pilot scale is gradually expanding.

In April of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Notice on the Announcement of the First Batch of Pilot Projects for Scaled Application of Vehicle-to-Grid Interaction" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). After expert evaluation, nine cities including Shanghai, Changzhou, Hefei, Huaibei, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Haikou, Chongqing, and Kunming were included in the first batch of pilot cities for scaled application of vehicle-to-grid interaction. In addition, 30 projects, including the "Beijing V2G Vehicle-to-Grid Interaction Collaborative Regulation Pilot Project Based on New Energy Storage," were included in the vehicle-to-grid interaction scaled application pilot projects.

Yu Dexiang, Chairman of Teld New Energy Co., Ltd., stated: "The next three years will be a critical window period for vehicle-network interaction, and technological advancements will focus on three directions: more efficient power semiconductor devices, more precise battery health assessment algorithms, and more open vehicle-to-pole-to-network communication protocols." If these innovations can achieve breakthroughs, they will significantly lower the application threshold for technology.

The economic efficiency of connected vehicles is closely related to scale. According to calculations by the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, when the number of participating vehicles reaches 100,000, the unit dispatch cost can decrease by 60%; when the scale reaches one million vehicles, the overall system benefits will show exponential growth. Therefore, the design of the business model must take into account both short-term feasibility and long-term network effects.

Li Lili predicts that V2G will achieve leapfrog growth in the future: by 2030, the annual sales of V2G vehicles with regular discharging capabilities will exceed 10 million; starting from 2028, all new vehicles sold in China will be equipped with V2G functionality. This transformation will have a profound impact on the power system: by 2030, V2G's peak shaving capacity will reach 200 million kilowatts, accounting for 10% to 12% of the maximum load of the entire grid. By 2035, the peak shaving capacity will increase to 800 million to 900 million kilowatts, accounting for nearly 40% of the maximum load of the entire grid, fundamentally solving the short-cycle peak shaving issues in China's power system (with holiday peak shaving demand being adequately covered).

Li Lili believes that as the proportion of green electricity increases, V2G will play a key role in "charging green electricity and replacing peak electricity." Through electricity price guidance and real-time electricity market regulation, V2G vehicles will prioritize charging green electricity and replace gas-fired and coal-fired power during peak power consumption periods. By 2030 and 2035, the emission reductions brought by V2G replacements will be approximately 600 million tons and 1.7 billion tons, respectively. This will not only promote low-carbon transformation in the automotive industry but also help rigid loads such as steel, commerce, and industry to use more green electricity, fully realizing the value of energy storage.

What hurdles does V2G still need to overcome?

In Li Lili's view, the core bottleneck for the large-scale promotion of V2G lies at the level of production relations, which can be divided into common bottlenecks and differentiated bottlenecks.

A common bottleneck is that the short-term equipment cost remains relatively high. Currently, the cost of a 7-kilowatt AC charging pile is less than 1,000 yuan, while the price of a DC bidirectional charging pile once exceeded 10,000 yuan. Although, under the promotion of national pilot projects, the cost of DC bidirectional charging piles in some regions has been reduced to below 5,000 yuan, representing a significant decrease, the overall cost is still at a relatively high level.

Secondly, there is a lack of a warranty system. Currently, the warranty standards for V2G-related batteries are mostly 8 years or 160,000 kilometers. Taking lithium iron phosphate passenger vehicles as an example, they actually provide users with warranty coverage for only about 300 cycles, far from utilizing their average lifespan potential of around 3,400 cycles. More critically, if a battery malfunctions while participating in V2G, users must bear the replacement cost of over 100,000 yuan themselves, which largely offsets the benefits from V2G and suppresses their willingness to participate. These two major bottlenecks fundamentally stem from users' "lack of assurance and fear of participation," rather than reluctance. Improving the warranty system can significantly reduce these concerns.

Differences in scenarios present bottlenecks due to varying application contexts. In private scenarios, residential electricity is supplied directly by the grid, and each charging pile is equipped with an independent electric meter. However, there is no clear standard for the measurement, settlement, and conversion of benefits from the electricity discharged by vehicles. Without supportive policies for grid electricity pricing, users discharging electricity are effectively providing "free power," making the business model unviable, and the complementary grid connection, measurement, and settlement system remains undeveloped.

Although peak and off-peak electricity pricing has been implemented in the park scenario, allowing for "behind-the-meter arbitrage," automotive companies are insufficiently following up on V2G, lacking compatible vehicles and charging piles. Negotiations concerning parking space occupation and power capacity allocation are difficult to advance due to "no actual demand support." Additionally, the park requires "one pile for multiple cars" compatibility, and the standard compatibility issues between different brands of vehicles and charging piles remain unresolved.

Public scenarios have become concentrated areas for V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) trials due to the low difficulty of site construction, but the actual usage rate is extremely low. The core issue is the high cost of user participation: the time cost of driving to the station and waiting for discharge far exceeds the discharge benefits, making commercial feasibility insufficient.

However, even if both common and differentiated bottlenecks are resolved, the "last mile" of vehicle-to-grid interaction may still be hindered by the intangible barrier of user psychology. Research data shows that 72% of new energy vehicle owners have concerns about "using their car to discharge," with the top three worries being: impact on battery life (58%), complexity of operation (23%), and safety hazards (19%).

"Aside from worrying about the impact on battery life, the biggest cost of V2G is actually the time cost. If the V2G charging station is not within your living radius, it is not worth making a special trip for it," said Mr. Gao, an electric vehicle owner. He mentioned that he had previously followed news about V2G, but for him, implementing it still feels "too much hassle."

As an electric vehicle owner, would you try to "take advantage" of the power grid?