Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has announced an expansion of its Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) pilot program, which seeks to study new ways for residential customers to turn their electric vehicles into mobile backup batteries and grid assets.
The expanded program allows newly eligible bidirectional EV chargers from dcbel and Wallbox, in addition to existing products from Tesla, General Motors, and Ford/Sunrun. Vehicles compatible with the new solutions include the Nissan Leaf (2018–2025), Volvo EX90 (2025), and Polestar 3 (2025) when paired with the dcbel Ara charger, as well as the Kia EV9 (2024+) and Kia EV6 (2025+) paired with the Wallbox Quasar 2 charger.
“Bidirectional charging incentives like PG&E’s residential V2X program are expanding access for homeowners curious about their EV’s ability to go beyond just powering their transportation and experience the value of their battery for home backup power,” said dcbel U.S. programs lead Diana Gilmore in a statement to pv magazine USA. “The Ara Home Energy Station’s unique ability to decide when to consume, sell, or store energy, and act on those decisions, allows participants to maximize opportunities to reduce their energy costs, provide reliable backup power for their homes and support their community’s power grid when it’s needed most.”
The updated offerings come from newly-approved program partners Bidirectional Energy — a software platform developer that specializes in residential vehicle-to-grid capabilities — and PowerFlex, a commercial charging network manager.
“This expansion is all about choice,” said PG&E director of clean energy transportation David Almeida in a statement. “By broadening the mix of eligible vehicles and chargers, we’re helping our customers access this valuable technology, while also offering them a way [to] turn their EV into a home backup and a grid asset.”
Residential customers within PG&E service territory who have a standard split-phase 240v electrical service and select one of the vehicle/charger combinations are eligible to receive incentives from the program. The offerings include upfront reductions in the cost of installation of $2,500 ($3,000 for customers in Disadvantaged Communities), as well as an additional $1,500 “early adopter” incentive that is available for the first 250 enrolled customers.
In addition to funding from PG&E, the new hardware options qualify for up to $13,000 in grant funding from the California Energy Commission (CEC) under the Responsive, Easy Charging Products with Dynamic Signals (REDWDS) grant program — enough to cover all the costs of installation. A spokesperson from dcbel told pv magazine USA that fewer than 50 spots remain available in the REDWDS program.
PGE’s mandate to carry out its V2X pilot traces back to 2019’s Senate Bill 676, which directed the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish rules for vehicle-grid integration (VGI) strategies.
In December 2020, the CPUC issued Decision 20-12-029, ordering the state’s three largest utilities to design and implement targeted VGI pilots and report regularly on their progress. In May 2022, PG&E received approval to launch its ratepayer-funded residential and commercial V2X pilots under CPUC resolution E-5192, and program enrollments began in November 2023.
Despite initially high expectations, the V2X pilots have proven difficult to get off the ground. Regulatory filings and semi-annual reports submitted to the CPUC reveal that early deployment was delayed by a persistent lack of commercially available, certified bidirectional vehicles and compatible electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).
As of PG&E’s mid-term regulatory reporting in September 2025, the residential V2X pilot had signed up just three residential customers, none of whom had systems interconnected with the utility’s grid. However, a spokesperson from PG&E shared with pv magazine USAthat the utility had 51 V2X pilot program customers interconnected to the grid as of July 2026.
With the additions of new program partners, along with expanded charger compatibility and vehicle pairings, PG&E aims to clear these early adoption hurdles as the market matures. The company’s next regulatory filing about the program is due by September 30 2026.
