A New Job for Electric Vehicles: Powering Homes During Blackouts
To some people, electric vehicles are a better option because they can serve multiple functions. Another big advantage: The battery in an F-150 Lightning or the electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup, which is expected to go on sale this year, can store a lot more energy than home batteries that are sometimes installed with rooftop solar panels. Pair an electric truck with a home solar system, the thinking goes, and a family could keep the lights on for days or even weeks.
The use of electric vehicles as a source of power has intrigued electric utility executives, including Pedro Pizarro, who heads the board of the Edison Electric Institute, the industry’s main trade organization, and is the chief executive of Edison International, which provides power to millions of homes and businesses in Southern California.
Mr. Pizarro’s company and other utilities are testing whether it is practical and safe to send power from electric vehicles to the grid.
By soaking up power when it’s abundant and releasing it when it is scarce, electric vehicles, he said, could serve as “a bigger rubber band to absorb the shocks and manage them day to day and week to week.”
Greater use of electric vehicles in this way should also allow utilities and homeowners to reduce planet-warming emissions by relying more on renewable sources of energy like solar and wind that provide power intermittently.