Now the country wants those same vehicles helping to keep the lights on.
Beijing is quietly testing a radical shift in how we think about cars and electricity. Instead of EVs simply charging from the grid, they could soon act as mobile batteries, sending power back to homes and businesses during peak demand—and even paying drivers for the privilege.
When your car turns into a power bank
For millions of Chinese drivers, the electric car has already become a normal part of daily life. The next step could change what “owning a car” means altogether.
According to a report from tech outlet Rest of World, China is rolling out so‑called “bidirectional” charging stations. These chargers don’t just fill up your battery. They also allow electricity to flow the other way, from the car back into the grid.
Cars top up when electricity is cheap and plentiful, then release stored power when the grid is under heavy stress.
The principle is simple:
- EVs charge at off‑peak hours, usually overnight or at times of low demand.
- During evening peaks or supply shortages, the same cars feed electricity back into the system.
- Grid operators pay drivers for each “discharge” event, turning parked vehicles into income‑generating assets.
Early trial figures hint at attractive rewards. Drivers taking part in the pilot could reportedly earn up to 1,400 yuan (around £150–£170) each time their battery is discharged to support the grid. For many urban households, that’s not far from a monthly utility bill.
Right now the program is still small. Around 30 pilot stations are operating across nine cities. Officials, though, are thinking in much bigger numbers. China aims to reach 5,000 such stations by 2027 and is targeting an energy “interaction” capacity of one billion kilowatts by 2030.
The power of 40 million electric vehicles
China’s advantage lies in scale. It isn’t just the world’s top producer of electric vehicles; it is also the country where most of them actually drive.
There are already more than 40 million electric vehicles on Chinese roads, from compact city cars to buses and delivery vans. Each one carries a battery pack far larger than any household storage unit.
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Strung together through software and chargers, these vehicles could form the largest distributed battery system ever built.
If the bidirectional charging model expands nationwide, China would effectively gain a gigantic, flexible storage network. That could:
- Reduce pressure on coal‑fired power plants during demand spikes
- Absorb excess solar and wind power that might otherwise be wasted
- Improve grid stability in regions hit by heatwaves, cold snaps, or industrial surges
For a country racing to cut emissions while still running a huge industrial economy, the ability to smooth demand using cars could be a valuable tool.
Why this idea has struggled elsewhere
The concept—known in energy jargon as “vehicle‑to‑grid”, or V2G—is not new. Researchers and utilities in Europe, the US and Japan have been testing it for more than a decade.
Yet almost nowhere has the technology made it into everyday life. Data compiled by V2G‑hub suggest around 150 projects have launched worldwide. Most remain tiny pilots, academic experiments, or have simply faded away.
The real obstacles have less to do with physics and more to do with cost, incentives and human behaviour.
The expensive chargers problem
The key hardware is the bidirectional charger. Unlike a standard home wallbox or public fast charger, these units must convert power both ways and talk intelligently to the grid.
That sophistication comes at a price. A single bidirectional charger typically costs between $2,100 and $2,800—nearly three times the price of a conventional charger in many markets. For households, that’s a major upfront investment, even if there is potential income later.
China has one big advantage here: the state is willing to spend heavily on infrastructure. Large public subsidies and state‑owned utilities mean the country can absorb costs that would be politically sensitive in Europe or North America.
Compatibility and consumer fears
There are also technical and psychological hurdles.
- Not all EVs are designed to send power back to the grid.
- Different charging standards and software systems make coordination harder.
- Automakers worry about warranty claims if heavy V2G use shortens battery life.
On top of that, many drivers are nervous about letting the grid “borrow” their car’s energy. They fear waking up one morning to a half‑empty battery when they need to drive to work. More deeply, there is a common anxiety that frequent charging and discharging will wear out batteries faster.
Battery degradation is the elephant in the room: drivers want clear proof their expensive packs will not die early.
Some studies suggest that well‑managed V2G, with strict limits on how low batteries can be drained, might not significantly shorten battery life—and could even help it, by keeping batteries in an optimal charge window. But lab results do not always reassure people spending their own money.
China’s shift towards the “electro‑state”
All this sits inside a larger transformation of China’s energy system. The country has long been criticised as a coal powerhouse and one of the planet’s biggest emitters.
Yet Beijing is now pushing hard to recast itself as a leader in renewables and electrification. The bidirectional EV plan is just one tile in a much broader mosaic.
China is building record amounts of solar and wind capacity, including what is expected to be the world’s largest solar farm on the Tibetan plateau. It continues to rely on mega‑projects such as the Three Gorges Dam, an enormous hydroelectric installation so large that scientists say the mass of its water reservoir has a tiny, measurable effect on Earth’s rotation.
Turning millions of cars into a flexible grid asset fits neatly with Beijing’s ambition to run more of its economy on electricity rather than on fossil fuels.
What this means for ordinary drivers
If China’s experiment scales up, the day‑to‑day experience of owning an EV could change significantly.
| Aspect | Today’s EV ownership | With bidirectional charging |
|---|---|---|
| Role of the car | Personal transport only | Transport plus revenue‑earning battery |
| Interaction with grid | Car only receives power | Car both receives and supplies power |
| Energy bills | Pure cost item | Potential net savings or income |
| Planning | Charge when convenient | Charge and discharge according to tariffs and grid signals |
For urban residents with predictable commuting patterns, joining such a program could make sense. A car that sits for hours in a workplace car park or residential garage becomes an asset that earns small but regular payments.
For others, trust will be the deciding factor: do they believe software and utilities will leave them enough range when they need to drive unexpectedly?
Risks, benefits and what might come next
Several risks stand out. Poorly designed incentives could push too many cars to discharge at the same time, creating new imbalances. Cyber‑security also becomes more critical when millions of vehicles connect directly to the grid.
There is also the question of equity. Wealthier urban drivers with new EVs will be first in line to benefit from payments, while rural households or those who cannot afford an EV may see fewer direct gains.
On the other hand, the benefits are tangible. Using existing car batteries avoids building as many large, stationary battery farms, which require land, raw materials and new factories. It can also help integrate higher levels of solar and wind by soaking up surplus energy that would otherwise be curtailed.
Key terms worth unpacking
Vehicle‑to‑grid (V2G): A system where electric vehicles can send power back into the electricity network, not just charge from it.
Bidirectional charger: A charging unit that allows electricity to flow both into and out of a vehicle battery, converting current in each direction and coordinating with the grid.
Peak shaving: A strategy where stored energy is released during times of high demand to “shave off” the top of the demand curve, easing strain on power plants and infrastructure.
How this could play out beyond China
If Beijing manages to prove that V2G works at scale—technically, economically and socially—it will be watched closely in London, Brussels, Washington and beyond. Regulators elsewhere may borrow Chinese lessons for their own markets.
In a future blackout scenario, millions of cars plugged into homes could temporarily keep fridges running, phones charged and heat pumps humming. In coastal areas hit by storms, fleets of electric buses or vans might roll in not just to move people, but to power emergency shelters.
That future is not guaranteed, and plenty can go wrong. Yet China’s wager is clear: if you already have tens of millions of batteries on wheels, leaving them idle might be the bigger risk.
Originally posted 2026-02-14 08:49:31.