Dive Brief:

• Xcel Energy and Fermata Energy — working with the city of Boulder, the nonprofit Colorado CarShare and Boulder Housing Partners — on May 20 announced a small but “transformational” vehicle-to-everything, or V2X, bidirectional electric vehicle charging pilot to explore reducing the upfront and operational costs of EV adoption.
• The project is Xcel’s first pilot examining the bill impacts and the potential for improved resiliency that can result from utilizing bidirectional charging and V2X systems, the utility said in an emailed statement. It will also provide “insights into resiliency and technology deployment strategies in areas at highest risk of prolonged outages due to natural disaster or emergency events.”
• The pilot, which is part of Xcel’s 2021-2023 Transportation Electrification Plan, was approved through the utility’s partnerships, research and innovation portfolio, which allows for the launch of R&D initiatives under an an expedited process.

Dive Insight:

The V2X pilot will only utilize four chargers and a half dozen vehicles, but Xcel officials hope to broadly apply any findings about how EVs can be efficiently integrated onto its electric grid.

The project is the “first demonstration for us to study bill impacts and resiliency using bidirectional charging and [V2X] software,” Xcel spokesperson Tyler Bryant said in an emailed statement. “V2X technology is new in Colorado and our teams hope to learn from the pilot in anticipation of this technology’s growth as more customers drive electric.”

Colorado has set a goal of having 940,000 EVs on its roads by 2030.

The V2X pilot chargers will be located at Boulder Housing Partners’ 30 Pearl development, which provides affordable housing, and the Molly's Spirits Lakeside facility, a beverage store. Xcel installed four 20 kW Level 2 EV bidirectional chargers between the sites, with each capable of discharging to the building, but not to the grid. Six Nissan Leaf EVs will utilize the chargers to manage peak load and reduce bills, the utility said.

When an EV is parked at the charger in V2X mode, the Fermata Energy platform will leverage the vehicle’s battery to lower the building’s peak electricity demand. Fermata’s demand charge management software “manages the total system power and energy via charge rate, frequency and depth while intelligently preserving the vehicle's battery health,” according to a press release.

Xcel says there are “no current plans to expand the pilot,” but an additional suite of V2X pilots and demonstrations was approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission as part of the utility’s 2024-2026 transportation electrification plan. 

That plan calls for continuing to operate V2X projects included in the initial transportation electrification plan along with developing “utility operational tools to control vehicle-to-grid resources,” according to the Colorado PUC’s April approval.

Fermata officials say they are open to expanding the V2X pilot.

"We're on the cusp of a transformative era in energy management, where electric vehicles transcend their traditional transportation roles to become pivotal in increasing grid resilience and sustainability," Fermata CEO Tony Posawatz said in a statement. "This collaboration with Xcel Energy is more than a project; it's a blueprint for an attainable global renewable energy ecosystem.”

The pilot follows last month’s announcement from General Motors about the availability of its first bidirectional charging products for residential customers through its subsidiary GM Energy. Volkswagen has also launched a vehicle-to-home pilot program with its partner HagerEnergy GmbH in Sweden.