Japanese carmaker Honda Motor has joined a demonstration project for experimental vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology project in the US.
The project is aimed at offering energy storage resource to the nation's electrical grid as well as cost-effective ownership of plug-in electric vehicles.
The Honda technology builds off of the research conducted by the University of Delaware and now supported by NRG Energy.
Commenced in 2013 by NRG and the University of Delaware, the eV2g joint venture is a vehicle-to-grid project that demonstrates controls, regulatory requirements, and market participation rules for selling energy storage from vehicles into the PJM Interconnection Regulation Market.
The carmaker supplies an Accord Plug-In Hybrid with V2G capabilities to the university's Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) campus to jointly investigate the potential of this technology to benefit the electrical grid, vehicle owners and society.
The Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid demonstration vehicle is equipped with a bi-directional on-board charger, which allows the vehicle propulsion battery to both charge from and discharge to the electrical grid.
The car controls charge and discharge options with an additional communication device using signals from a grid operator through a charging station.
When electric power is requested by the grid, the vehicle will discharge power from its battery. When the grid power supply exceeds demand, the vehicle proactively charges its battery.
The demonstration is conducted in the area served by PJM Interconnection, which controls electricity supply in 13 states and the District of Columbia.
