Massachusetts Rolls Out Pilot That Lets EV Owners Sell Power Back to the Grid

Ever wonder what happens to all those extra electrons parked in your electric‑car battery? In Massachusetts, a handful of utilities think they might have found a use for them. On Thursday, five companies – Eversource, National Grid, EnergyHub, Sunrun and The Mobility House – announced a joint test called ConnectedSolutions that will let participating EV drivers feed power back into the grid when demand spikes.

It’s not a massive rollout yet; the pilot is limited to roughly 60 households and a few school buses. But the idea is simple enough: the car’s battery, which is usually just sitting idle while you’re at work, can act like a tiny, mobile power plant. When the grid is under stress – say on a hot July afternoon – the system can draw a few kilowatt‑hours from those parked cars and sell it back, offsetting the owners’ electric bills.

Why Massachusetts? The state’s electricity rates are among the highest in the country – about 34 cents per kilowatt‑hour, which translates to roughly $310 a month for an average home, according to EnergySage. That’s roughly 66 % above the national average, so any chance to shave a few dollars off the bill feels like a win. And even though New England’s cold winters make some people skeptical about EV adoption, there are already about 150,000 electric cars on the road in the Bay State, a number that’s only expected to climb.

“Electric cars and buses with bidirectional charging have a valuable capability to provide emergency backup power and vehicle‑to‑grid,” said Russell Vare, Vice President of Vehicle‑Grid Integration at The Mobility House North America. He’s not just talking about keeping lights on during a blackout – he’s also hinting at a future where your car can be a small but flexible part of the larger energy system.

Several automakers are already building the hardware to make this happen. GM’s Chevrolet Silverado EV and Cadillac Lyriq, Kia’s EV9, and even the now‑defunct Ford F‑150 Lightning all support bidirectional charging. Tesla’s Cybertruck offers a similar “Powershare Grid Support” feature, though for now it’s only available in a few Texas markets. And more models are on the way – many that already have V2G capability in Europe, like certain Volkswagen and Volvo vehicles, could make the jump to the U.S. soon.

The pilot isn’t limited to suburban garage‑owners either. Participants don’t have to live in any particular part of Massachusetts, and you don’t even need a dedicated garage. The program will simply check whether your home’s electrical panel can accommodate a suitable charger and any extra gear that might be required.

Beyond homes, ConnectedSolutions is also eyeing schools that run electric buses, and it’s looking at medium‑duty trucks for future phases. So far the rollout includes 45 residential sites and 21 electric school buses, and a fresh round of applications is now open.

With power prices climbing and gasoline still pricey, a car that can both drive you around and act as a modest power source could become a must‑have feature. Think of it as adding V2G to the growing list of vehicle‑to‑home (V2H) and vehicle‑to‑load (V2L) capabilities that many drivers will expect in the next few years.