New Energy Vehicles Empowering the Grid: The Year of Vehicle-to-Grid Interactions

As of the beginning of this year, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in China has reached 31.4 million. The challenges faced by EV owners, such as long queues at charging stations and increased pressure on urban power grids, have sparked ongoing concerns about the impact of electric vehicles on the electricity network. In this context, transitioning EVs from merely being power consumers to acting as energy storage nodes may be an essential step in the energy transition.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly announced the first batch of cities for the nationwide pilot program of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) interactions, with nine cities including <b>Shanghai</b>, <b>Shenzhen</b>, and <b>Hefei</b> selected as initial trial locations. Additionally, 30 projects in cities like <b>Beijing</b> and <b>Guangzhou</b> are simultaneously being advanced. This marks a significant shift from the 'concept verification' phase to a crucial stage of 'system implementation' regarding EV participation in the electricity system.

The concept of vehicle-grid interaction goes beyond simply recharging vehicles; it involves allowing EVs to charge during off-peak hours and return energy to the grid during peak times, transforming them into controllable mobile energy storage units. V2G technology not only alters the traditional unidirectional flow of electricity but also stimulates a chain reaction across various sectors, including transportation, electricity, communications, and energy storage.

To truly realize large-scale implementation, breakthroughs are needed in standardization, business mechanisms, and user participation. On <b>January 23</b>, technicians were seen debugging a "car charging treasure" at the Bai Ge service area along the Jingsong Expressway. Recently, the State Grid's Beijing Electric Power Company completed two rounds of concentrated testing on <b>108 charging stations</b> across the city, enhancing temporary charging facilities at highway stations and increasing inspection frequencies to ensure green travel for citizens during the Spring Festival.

The shift from "electrification" to "interaction" represents a significant change. Long criticized for enjoying green privileges while also burdening the grid, EV owners may soon find themselves in a more favorable position. In simple terms, vehicle-grid interaction allows EVs to act as "mobile charging treasures": they charge during low load periods and discharge during peak usage to support the grid. This model, leveraging V2G technology, breaks the traditional electricity flow model of 'generation—transmission—consumption' and enables distributed energy consumers to actively adjust their energy use.

The <b>National Development and Reform Commission</b> and other departments have issued implementation guidelines stating that by <b>2025</b>, China aims to establish a preliminary technical standard system for vehicle-grid interaction, comprehensively implement and continuously optimize charging price mechanisms, and promote substantial progress in market mechanisms. By <b>2030</b>, the standard system is expected to be well-developed, with vehicle-grid interaction achieving large-scale applications and promoting orderly intelligent charging, making EVs a vital part of the electrochemical energy storage system and providing gigawatt-level bi-directional flexibility to the electricity system.

This policy signal has led to rapid developments. The first batch of V2G pilot cities has been officially announced, with nine cities selected, including Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hefei, alongside 30 projects in Beijing and Guangzhou. This signifies the end of the experimental phase for vehicle-grid interaction, ushering in the dawn of industrialization.

For the power grid, V2G offers a new tool for smoothing load variations. In March <b>2025</b>, the Southern Power Grid organized the largest national vehicle-grid interaction testing event across five provinces: Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hainan. The event covered <b>63 cities</b> with over <b>100,000</b> EVs participating, resulting in more than <b>500,000 kilowatt-hours</b> of interactive electricity. Notably, the discharge power at the Shenzhen Lianhua Mountain supercharging station reached <b>1052 kilowatts</b>, marking the first megawatt-level V2G operation in the country. Hu Zechun, Deputy Director of the Tsinghua University Power System Research Institute, stated that large-scale vehicle-grid interaction reduces the peak-to-valley difference in the grid, making EVs an essential resource for ensuring the safe and stable operation of the power system. In the long run, it can save investment in the grid and power sources, thereby lowering social costs.

For EV owners, V2G opens up the potential for "earning from their cars." According to calculations by Southern Power Grid, EV owners earned more than <b>400,000 yuan</b> through participation in reverse discharge and off-peak charging during the recent V2G inter-regional demonstration activity. A representative from the Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau indicated that future incentives will be structured through a multi-tiered mechanism combining "grid electricity prices + electricity market trading + subsidies," encouraging more owners to join the V2G network. Liu Zhihui, General Manager of GAC Energy Technology Co., emphasized that vehicle-grid interaction not only represents a technological breakthrough but also redefines production relationships, facilitating the transformation of EVs from "capacity output" to "system solution providers."

From a broader industrial chain perspective, V2G signifies a comprehensive capability upgrade. Everbright Securities highlighted three major investment opportunities released by V2G: first, upgrading charging infrastructure, which requires bidirectional intelligence for charging stations; second, breakthroughs in battery technology to develop systems with high cycle life and safety; and third, rapid construction of smart grids, as vehicle-grid interaction sets higher demands for power scheduling, information communication, and edge computing, ultimately driving the digital and intelligent transformation of the entire energy system.

Ouyang Minggao, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that vehicle-grid interaction is becoming a key driving force for the transformation of onboard energy storage technology. He believes that as the proportion of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power increases, the existing distribution systems of urban grids can no longer support the growing charging demand. V2G provides a solution pathway, transitioning EV charging from a chaotic early stage to orderly management and ultimately to a bi-directional interaction capability.

With the prevalence of high-rise residential buildings and a large proportion of small units in China, EVs are practically the most feasible household energy storage carriers, requiring no additional space while possessing excellent load-adjustment capabilities. From the user's perspective, V2G could radically change perceptions of charging costs—"not only can electric vehicles be charged for free, but they could even become profitable energy assets in the future."

Which cities are genuinely advancing in V2G? Hefei, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are paving three representative paths in vehicle-grid interaction—one focusing on integration, another on standards, and the last on scale. Among the first batch of nine pilot cities, Hefei stands out as the earliest and most systematically prepared contender. This hub of the new energy industry is the only city nationwide to encompass "battery swap trials," "dual intelligence trials," "industrial chain supply chain trials," and "vehicle-road-cloud integration trials," making it a "four-trial" city. Hefei has also proposed driving the large-scale application of vehicle-grid interaction as a core task, establishing a new urban energy operation mechanism.

The newly completed "photovoltaic storage and charging integration + vehicle-grid interaction" demonstration project at Hefei's governmental center has realized the organic coordination of photovoltaic generation, energy storage systems, V2G reverse discharge, and a unified scheduling platform, exploring a complete implementation logic for "source-network-vehicle-storage" integration. Policy-wise, Hefei has introduced a special reward and subsidy mechanism to incentivize the new construction and renovation of V2G charging stations, EV owners participating in reverse discharge, and aggregators and operators accessing the grid. Market-wise, it promotes the establishment of a "vehicle-grid benefit mechanism," encouraging platforms to dynamically issue subsidies for regional charging stations based on demand, achieving flexible guidance of "where the vehicle goes, how the electricity flows."

According to the latest data from the Hefei Municipal Government, nearly <b>260,000</b> various charging facilities have been built in Hefei, significantly outperforming the national average in the vehicle-to-charging station ratio. Hefei's goal is not only to be a technological pioneer but also to explore a replicable and profitable urban-level V2G business model through the simultaneous advancement of policy, technology, and market mechanisms.

If Hefei emphasizes "integration," Shanghai leverages its strengths in standards and testing. As one of the birthplaces of the national new energy vehicle industry, Shanghai is not only among the first pilot cities but also has the most projects approved, totaling <b>four</b>. In March <b>2025</b>, the State Grid's Shanghai Electric Power Company, alongside the Electric Power Research Institute, vehicle manufacturers, and charging station companies, conducted the nation's first comprehensive testing of the entire vehicle-grid interaction chain, evaluating the compatibility of V2G systems, adaptability to the grid, and flexibility in demand response. Currently, Shanghai has built a <b>300,000-kilowatt</b> intelligent and orderly charging network, along with <b>20,000 kilowatts</b> of V2G discharging capacity, laying the foundation for advancing to large-scale practical applications. Shen Bing, Deputy Chief Engineer of the State Grid's Shanghai Electric Power Institute, stated that the significance of Shanghai's pilot lies not only in the projects themselves but also in promoting collaborative innovation across the industry chain around vehicle-grid interaction, providing replicable testing mechanisms and standard systems for the nation.

In terms of implementation, Shenzhen is undoubtedly one of the fastest-moving cities. In March <b>2025</b>, Shenzhen initiated the largest scale vehicle-grid interaction (V2G) practical test, covering over <b>760</b> charging stations citywide with <b>17,000</b> vehicle interactions, resulting in an interactive electricity amount of <b>88,000 kilowatt-hours</b>, marking the transition of V2G technology from validation to systematic application. The supercharging station located at Lianhua Mountain has drawn attention, achieving a daily discharge of over <b>13,000 kilowatt-hours</b> with a peak discharge power of <b>1052 kilowatts</b>, realizing megawatt-level V2G operation. The station can support up to <b>46</b> vehicles simultaneously for bi-directional charging and discharging, with the maximum charging and discharging power per pile reaching <b>600 kilowatts</b>, enhancing discharge speed by <b>10-20 times</b> compared to conventional charging piles, setting a benchmark for the development of vehicle-grid interaction technology nationwide.

Additionally, this practical test verified user participation and incentive mechanisms: for every kilowatt-hour of electricity sent back, a subsidy of <b>4 yuan</b> is offered, significantly higher than the <b>0.4 yuan</b> cost of off-peak charging, attracting numerous EV owners to participate, particularly from the ride-hailing sector. Shenzhen also conducted the first practical test of pure electric heavy trucks' reverse discharge, with a single vehicle capable of discharging <b>300 kilowatt-hours</b>, providing a viable solution for urban emergency power supply. As of last year, Shenzhen has built <b>1,030</b> supercharging stations and a cumulative total of <b>420,000</b> charging piles, becoming the first city in the nation where the number of supercharging guns exceeds that of gasoline pumps.

Within the "vehicle-charging station-battery-grid" integrated operation framework, Shenzhen is forming a replicable urban-level V2G operation model. From Hefei’s "mechanism reconstruction" to Shanghai’s "standard-led" approach, and finally to Shenzhen’s "practical testing," the seemingly peripheral technology of vehicle-grid interaction is achieving breakthroughs from multiple angles. It is widely believed that the varying exploration paths of V2G across different cities reflect not only technical strategies but also the differences in local governance mechanisms and system integration capabilities.

In the context of the ongoing "dual carbon" strategy, the city that first completes the complete loop of policy support, industrial implementation, and user participation is likely to secure a competitive edge in the next phase of development for the integration of the new energy vehicle and energy systems.

From concept to consensus, where is the future of vehicle-grid interaction headed? As an energy coordination technology that once seemed "distant," V2G is rapidly becoming a crucial component in building a new power system and the future ecosystem of electric vehicles, evidenced by the speed of pilot implementation and the breadth of cross-sector integration. However, for this seemingly optimal model to be fully realized in everyday life, long-term alignment across the entire system is necessary.

The essence of V2G lies in the deep coupling of energy and transportation systems, making its implementation challenges far more complex than the physical and cost issues faced by traditional "charging station construction." Issues such as lack of unified standards, immature commercial mechanisms, data barriers, and unestablished user habits will determine its fate, influenced not only by technical specifications but also by the degree of collaboration across the industry chain and the organizational capacity of policies.

From the perspective of the "dual carbon" strategy, vehicle-grid interaction serves as a pioneering pilot for establishing a new governance model for energy-transport integration. According to the pathway goals proposed by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, by <b>2025</b>, the V2G technical standard system will be initially formed, and the peak and valley electricity pricing mechanism will be fully implemented. By around <b>2030</b>, V2G is expected to achieve large-scale commercialization and become an important part of the electrochemical energy storage system, enhancing urban power systems with gigawatt-level flexible regulation capabilities.

However, to realize this vision, the technology must navigate real-world constraints, and collaborative mechanisms must gradually be established. Core aspects, including standard setting, market trading, data openness, and cost-sharing, require continuous optimization and growth within the "policy guidance—urban pilot—market feedback" process. As industry professionals note, "The key to the realization of V2G is not whether it can be done, but whether a replicable, profitable 'system engineering' can be created."

It is anticipated that as the first batch of pilots continues to advance and user participation steadily increases, more cities will gain experience and identify challenges through the practical operations of "electric vehicles supporting the grid," exploring application paths suitable for their local energy structures and user characteristics. In this gradual reconstruction of the energy system, every charging and discharging choice made by vehicle owners, each technological upgrade of charging infrastructure by companies, and every policy optimization attempt by local governments are essential steps towards the gradual integration of vehicle-grid interaction into reality.