The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), and DOE’s Office of Electricity (OE), issued a request for information (RFI) (DE-FOA-0002528) seeking feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to integrating electric vehicles (EVs) with the grid.

This RFI is being jointly issued by EERE’s Vehicle Technologies Office and OE’s Advanced Grid Research and Development Division.

Through this RFI, DOE is soliciting input in five categories:

1. An evaluation of the use of EVs to maintain the reliability of the electric grid. DOE has specific interest in the use of electric vehicles for demand response, load shaping, emergency power, and frequency regulation; and the potential for the reuse of spent electric vehicle batteries for stationary grid storage.

2. The impact of grid integration on EVs. This includes the impact of bi-directional electricity flow on battery degradation and the implications of the use of electric vehicles for grid services on original equipment manufacturer warranties.

3. The impacts to the electric grid of increased penetration by EVs. This category covers a number of topic areas, including:

   • The distribution grid infrastructure needed to support an increase in charging capacity;

   • The strategies for integrating electric vehicles onto the distribution grid while limiting infrastructure upgrades;

   • The changes in electricity demand over a 24-hour cycle due to electric vehicle charging behavior;

   • The load increases expected from electrifying the transportation sector;

   • The potential for customer incentives and other managed charging stations strategies to shift charging off-peak;

   • The technology needed to achieve bi-directional power flow on the distribution grid; and

   • The implementation of smart charging techniques.

4. Research on the standards needed to integrate EVs with the grid, including communications systems, protocols, and charging stations.

5. The cybersecurity challenges and needs associated with electrifying the transportation sector.

The Energy Act of 2020 directed DOE to submit to Congress a “Vehicles to Grid Integration Assessment Report.” Stakeholders are requested to provide research and development results, reports, or other information for past, present, or planned projects that are relevant to the five categories, which will be included in this report to Congress.