A consortium of companies led by the BMW Group has launched the Bidirectional Charging Management (BCM) research project to develop backfeeding power technology, which will allow vehicles to transfer energy back into the power grid or customers’ homes when plugged into a compatible charging station or wallbox. The goal is to allow EVs to operate as mobile energy storage devices. The research project will focus on vehicle technology, charging hardware, charging management, communication interfaces, and legal parameters.

The BCM project will include BMW, photovoltaic company KOSTAL Industrie Elektrik, transmission network operator TenneT, distribution network operator Bayernwerk Netz, the Research Institute for Energy, the Research Association for Energy, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the University of Passau.

Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the project will run for three years under oversight of the German Aerospace Centre. In early 2021, BMW plans to begin a one-year pilot testing 50 of its i3 EVs in real-world conditions using bidirectional charing technology.

Source: BMW