Natural disasters, severe weather present EV charging challenge

EVs and some hybrids might help support the grid during a natural disaster.

A deadly cold snap that hit Texas in 2021 left more than 4.5 million homes and businesses without power for days. A handful of owners of Ford F-150 hybrid pickups with the PowerBoost feature used the truck’s onboard generator to power their homes for several days.

The all-electric version of the F-150 is available with an Intelligent Backup Power feature that allows for bi-directional charging to power a suburban home or small business. The feature is standard on higher-priced models with an extended-range battery and costs $500 as an over-the-air software upgrade on other models.

Ford’s $1,310 Charge Station Pro home-charging station, which comes standard with the extended-range battery, is required. It serves as an interface when the truck is plugged in and sends power from its battery to a home. Also required is a $3,895 Home Integration System jointly developed by Ford and its preferred installation partner Sunrun.

Bidirectional flow enables vehicle-to-grid capability, allowing an EV to send excess power back to the power grid.

Kontou said she expects vehicle-to-grid technologies to grow with EV adoption.

“People are understanding that electric vehicles are more than just cars and trucks,” Cullen said. “It’s also the charging systems, storage, the grid and how they serve and reinforce each other.”

Vehicle to grid also is being tested with larger EVs, including electric school buses.

“A lot of people are focused on electric school buses because they have a big battery, and for most of the day they’re just sitting there,” Stainken said.

Last year DTE Energy of Michigan conducted a pilot with six electric buses in two school districts to test vehicle-to-grid applications. Dominion Energy of Richmond, Va., plans to deploy more than 1,000 electric school buses in Virginia by 2025 for the same purpose.

Other large commercial vehicles, including semitractors and garbage trucks, are becoming electrified, said Rick Kozole, the Detroit-based leader of the automotive and industrials group at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal.

“We can use those batteries for power after a natural disaster,” he said.