BC Hydro announces Canada’s first ‘vehicle-to-grid’ pilot project
Posted December 17, 2023 2:45 pm.
Last Updated December 18, 2023 10:42 am.
A new pilot project from BC Hydro aims to allow electric vehicles to share electricity back to the grid, essentially allowing the vehicles to become batteries on wheels.
The utility announced Friday it has successfully tested the vehicle-to-grid program, which would allow electricity to be pushed from the batteries of medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles back to the power grid. The electricity could then be used in a variety of ways, including helping with emergency response by powering critical infrastructure in the event of natural disasters or major storms, allowing for a quicker, cleaner, and more flexible alternative to traditional methods, such as the use of diesel generators.
“The average car is parked 95 per cent of the time, and with the evolution of technology solutions like vehicle-to-grid, stationary vehicles hold the potential to become mobile batteries, powered by clean and affordable electricity,” said BC Hydro president and CEO Chris O’Riley.
BC Hydro says it conducted its test by using a Lion Electric school bus from Lynch Bus Lines connected to a 60-kilowatt charger.
The province has thousands of buses on its roads, and the typical bus battery holds 66 kilowatts of electricity, which is enough to power 24 single-family electrically heated homes for two hours, BC Hydro says. So, the utility says, if 1,000 of those buses were converted to electric, they could power 24,000 homes for two hours.
BC Hydro says the project is a partnership with Powertech and Coast to Coast Experience and has been funded by the provincial government.
The pilot is the first of its kind in Canada, the organization says, but the technology has been used successfully in Europe and the United States.
