UL, a leading global safety science company, announced that Fermata Energy’s bidirectional electric vehicle (EV) charging system is the first to be certified to a new North American safety Standard, UL 9741, the Standard for Bidirectional Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging System Equipment.

Bidirectional chargers are built on the idea that electric vehicle batteries can be valuable resources that hold electricity used to run the vehicle itself, but also provide energy back to the electrical grid, enabling EVs to earn money while they are parked by helping to stabilize the electric power grid.

The UL 9741 standard covers bidirectional electric vehicle charging equipment that charges electric vehicles from an electric power system (EPS) and also includes functionality to export power from the electric vehicle to an EPS.

According to Francisco Martinez, business development director of UL’s Energy Systems and eMobility division, bidirectional charging gives vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology the potential to balance electricity demand and smooth consumption spikes with the help of electric car battery storage.

UL’s role in making the most of the stored energy in electric vehicles is to help ensure that this happens safely.

—Francisco Martinez