Hyundai and Nissan are just two of the major automakers that offer bi-directional charging in

their electric vehicles. Others, such as Ford with its F-150 Lightning pickup and Volkswagen with
models based on its MEB platform, will include the capability in 2022.

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has been mostly silent about such a feature, stated at the
company's September 2020 annual meeting that future vehicles would have bi-directional
charging, though he has been mostly silent about it since then — possibly due to the potential
cannibalization of Tesla's stationary storage business.

The increased loss of battery life, the high cost of the chargers and equipment required to
enable it, and the ability to participate in grid service markets are all barriers to widespread
adoption of bi-directional charging. The feature is prominent in the advertising campaign for the
fully electric Ford F-150 pickup truck, which has been the best-selling vehicle in the United
States for over four decades. An offer of energy independence is a clever hook to entice
prospective customers. Who could say no to that?

If bi-directional charging was enabled for the entire global fleet of EVs, that would reduce the
need for fossil fuel generation and help to manage peak energy demand on the grid. Fewer grid
upgrades would be required and the potential pot of money going into grid service markets that
could be used instead to pay electric vehicle drivers for use of their vehicles battery.

BloombergNEF analysis shows that drivers with a bi-directional charger in the U.K. can benefit
by about $370 annually. Still, charger costs are prohibitive to drivers adopting the technology. A
current bi-directional charger costs about $5,000 more than a unidirectional one — that would
need to drop to about $1,850 for drivers to achieve payback in five years. Ford’s strategy of
including much of the bi-directional functionality on the vehicle (called AC bi-directional
charging) should lower the enabling charger cost.

Data suggests the latest electric vehicles lose around 1.5-2% battery capacity a year. Assuming
a target of 20% battery loss after ten years this could leave around 0.5% degradation a year for
grid services.By controlling the power and usage parameters of grid services, BloombergNEF
analysis suggests they can be completed within a 0.5% a year degradation allowance. There is
certainly more to be learned about using electric vehicle batteries for multiple services.
Automakers are, however, willing to build the plane while flying it to get a leap in