Toyota Motor North America and utility Potomac Electric (Pepco) will collaborate on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) research for EVs.

Owned by Exelon, Pepco serves Washington DAC and surrounding communities in Maryland.

Toyota and Pepco will conduct the V2G research at Pepco’s Watershed Sustainability Center in Montgomery County, Maryland, using a bidirectional charger. The utility will also work on designing and evaluating a variety of EV charging and discharging use cases that might demonstrate benefits of V2G to customers.

The research efforts will use a Toyota bZ4X. The partners will study EV owner charging habits and vehicle usage. Toyota says that close to 80% of EV owners charge their vehicles at home overnight, a period during which the demand for electric power is comparatively low.

Toyota EV Charging Solutions Group VP Christopher Yang said, “Working with Pepco will help us understand charging and discharging use cases, which will ultimately benefit our customers and help utility providers better understand grid demands.”

Source: Toyota Motor North America