Two of Massachusetts' largest electric utilities are joining forces with three clean energy and technology firms to pilot a vehicle-to-grid program that would allow residential customers to earn incentives by feeding electricity from their electric vehicles back to the grid during periods of high demand.

Five-Company Collaboration

Eversource, National Grid, EnergyHub, Sunrun, and The Mobility House announced a joint effort to test vehicle-to-grid capabilities in Massachusetts. The five organizations span utility operations, demand response software, residential solar and battery services, and smart charging technology. The partnership reflects a broader industry push to treat parked electric vehicles as distributed grid assets rather than simple loads.

ConnectedSolutions as the Platform

The pilot will operate through ConnectedSolutions, an existing demand-side flexibility program already run by Eversource and National Grid. Qualifying residential customers who own V2G-capable electric vehicles will be eligible to enroll, with the program structured to dispatch stored vehicle energy during demand response events. ConnectedSolutions has previously aggregated controllable devices such as smart thermostats and home batteries into a virtual power plant; adding vehicle-to-grid functionality extends that model to EV batteries.

Customer Incentives and Grid Goals

Participating drivers stand to earn financial incentives in exchange for making their vehicle batteries available to the grid. The arrangement is designed to support both grid reliability and affordability, according to the announcement, by reducing stress on the distribution system during peak periods. Rather than requiring utility-owned infrastructure, the program leverages privately owned vehicles already present in customer driveways, which proponents of V2G technology argue represents a largely untapped flexible resource as EV adoption grows.

Testing Phase

The current effort is described as a test, with enrollment open to customers whose vehicles meet V2G technical requirements. The Mobility House and Sunrun bring hardware and software expertise to manage the bidirectional charging process, while EnergyHub provides the demand response aggregation and coordination layer that connects individual vehicles to utility dispatch signals. National Grid and Eversource serve as the offtaking utilities, integrating the aggregated vehicle capacity into their broader grid management operations. No specific enrollment targets or program duration were disclosed in the announcement.