China wants electric cars to feed power back to the grid

The world’s largest electric-vehicle maker is betting on a technology that has failed to take off in tens of other countries over the past decade.

The Chinese government is rolling out special two-way charging stations that allow parked EVs to send power back to the grid during peak demand periods. They use vehicle-to-grid technology, or V2G. At least 30 V2G stations have been set up across nine cities including Beijing and Shanghai. The plan is to have 5,000 such stations among China’s 28 million total charging points by 2027.

Chinese officials predict widespread V2G adoption by 2030 would unlock 1 billion kilowatts of capacity from an expected fleet of 100 million EVs. The move could help diversify energy sources beyond coal in a country that’s home to 40 million electric cars. 

China aims to adopt the technology nationwide, despite other countries having struggled to use it. More than 150 V2G projects across 27 countries including Japan, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S. have remained stuck in tiny trials for over a decade. While the technology seems beneficial on paper, its trials have failed to overcome the problems of high costs, consumer resistance, and market barriers such as inconsistent electricity pricing systems.

“China is obviously the global leader on EVs, but in V2G, deployment is in early days,” Alan Jenn, an electric-car expert at the Institute of Transportation Studies at University of California, Davis, told Rest of World. “V2G in China could certainly be propelled farther than other countries, the government has been much more willing to put large-scale investments on a very different magnitude than most other countries in the world.”

V2G in China could certainly be propelled farther than other countries.”

China wants to turn idle electric cars into mobile energy storage that can stabilize power grids during peak demand. Research from the U.S. Department of Energy shows that cars sit unused 95% of the time, meaning EV batteries could store cheap nighttime electricity and feed it back when prices spike. Owners could earn money while their vehicles sit parked.

In practice, though, there are several obstacles to V2G. 

First, Chinese automakers BYD, Nio, and GAC Aion sell only a few V2G-compatible models, limiting the number of cars that can be used for V2G.

Pricing is also an issue: A bidirectional charging station costs between $2,100 and $2,800 — two to three times as much as a standard one-way charger. This makes it hard to scale without subsidies.

“The real pain point is the business model that is lacking,” Mo Ke, founder of Chinese battery consultancy RealLi Research, told Rest of World. “All the projects now are heavily subsidized. They’re nowhere near commercialization.”

Consumer anxiety about battery life is another hurdle: EV owners worry that constant charging and discharging will destroy expensive batteries. A Fortune Business Insights report published this year identified battery degradation as one of the key concerns for potential V2G users.

“Most of the challenges that folks talk about are on the hardware side and whether the technology is ready,” Jenn said. “But the barriers from customers and individual behavior are just as big — if not bigger — challenges.”

According to a government test conducted this year, EV owners can earn about $200 per month in charging credits by buying electricity cheap during off-peak hours and selling it back during peak times.

The real pain point is the business model that is lacking.”

Jiawei Li, an EV owner in Shenzhen, told Rest of World he earned 1,400 yuan ($197) in charging credits after leaving his car in a V2G-enabled parking lot for two days. The money he earned was enough to cover his charging costs for an entire year. The parking lot that Li used, however, was one where power and car companies, and local governments, test buyback services at promotional rates. The rates may not remain this high in the future. 

China’s state-run electricity grid adds another layer of complexity. The country still relies on coal for more than half of its electricity generation, according to government figures. The largely state-controlled electricity prices leave little room for fluctuation despite years of market-oriented reforms.

This contrasts sharply with places like California, where market-driven pricing has operated for a decade. It allows prices to fluctuate throughout the day.

European and U.S. tests over the past decade have raised concerns about mass adoption costs. The technology works, but is too expensive to scale without continuous subsidies.

The European Union has mandated bidirectional charging capability for all stationary stations, starting in 2027. The Netherlands has deployed the technology in taxi fleets, while Australia and Japan are running limited trials.

“Few policymakers saw strong incentive for China to develop the V2G technology because the pricing mechanism was state-controlled,” Qin Yudi, who founded V2G startup Lynkvertx in 2021, told Rest of World. “Many also believe that China can rely solely on building massive infrastructure projects to generate enough energy from renewable sources, just like what they did with nonrenewables.” 

The future of V2G is definitely here.”

Qin remains cautious about the timeline for V2G’s commercial viability. Lynkvertx expanded to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, diversifying beyond V2G. He sees parallels in China’s EV journey: It had taken years of subsidies and policy changes for the country to reach its current position of world leader.

Last year, Beijing introduced technical standards for V2G and pledged to adopt more market-driven pricing mechanisms. Local governments began experimenting with their own pricing schemes.

“For over a decade, the promise of V2G has been stalled by a complex web of interconnected barriers,” Kai Li Lim, a St. Baker fellow in e-mobility at the University of Queensland, told Rest of World. “Compounding this is a patchwork of complex and inconsistent grid interconnection rules that stifle scalability.”

Market observers remain divided on China’s chances. The technology works, yet creating sustainable business models requires fundamental changes.

“It is about how fast China is going to marketize its electricity,” Qin said. “The future of V2G is definitely here. It is not here as quickly as we wished and may take another three or four years to take flight. But it will come, just like how EVs did in China.”