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Power when parked: EVs could help save money, reduce emissions by providing energy to homes
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These maps show the median changes in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions across the contiguous U.S. for electric vehicle charging scenarios explored by researchers from the University of Michigan and Ford Motor Company. In the maps shown here, the drops can be seen for (a) “smart charging” EVs when the power grid is cleanest, (b) incorporating vehicle-to-home, or V2H, charging that allows an EV’s battery help power households and (c) using V2H in fully electrified homes (denoted by heat pump). Image credit: Jiahui Chen with data from J. Chen et al. Nature Energy. 2025 (DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01894-7). Made with Plotly.
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According to new research from the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) and the Ford Motor Company, using electric vehicle batteries to power households could save owners thousands while cutting emissions from the power grid.
The research team, which included Parth Vaishnav, SEAS assistant professor, Gregory Keoleian, SEAS professor, and Jiahui Chen, SEAS PhD candidate, investigated scenarios related to vehicle-to-home charging, or V2H, an emerging technology that lets EV drivers tap into energy from their car batteries to manage power to their homes, as one would do with a generator.
This emerging technology lets EV drivers tap into energy from their vehicles’ batteries to help manage power to their homes. It’s almost like using EVs that are parked in garages as generators.
According to the study, published in the journal Nature Energy and supported by the Ford-University of Michigan Alliance Program, V2H could save EV owners 40 to 90% of their charging costs over the vehicle's lifetime, translating to between $2,400 to $5,600 in vehicle lifetime savings, and could reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from a household’s electricity use by 70 to 250%, which would amount to cutting between 24 and 57 tons of lifetime carbon dioxide emissions.
The co-authors of the study from Ford are Hyung Chul Kim, research scientist, Robb De Kleine, life cycle research analyst and James Anderson, technical leader of sustainability and environmental science.
Read the full press release on the Michigan News website.
Study: Vehicle-to-Home Charging Can Cut Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions across the US (DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01894-7)
Policy brief: Electric vehicles: Vehicle-to-home charging can cut costs
and emissions (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01899-2)