Electric vehicles are building market share across the United States in places such as California, Florida, New York, Texas and Washington state. At the same time, the country’s aging electrical grid appears increasingly unable to handle the rising demand for charging services during peak load times.

Bidirectional charging through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology represents at least a partial solution to this dilemma, according to Katherine Stainken, vice president of policy for The Electrification Coalition, which recently published a report of policy recommendations regarding advancing V2G adoption. By enabling EVs with these capabilities, fleet managers can collaborate with local utilities on demand response and position their EV fleets as a potential source of backup power during outages.