ANN ARBOR, MI—Engineers at the University of Michigan believe that electric vehicle batteries could soon be used to help power households. Vehicle-to-home charging (V2H) technology would enable motorists to tap into energy from their vehicles’ batteries.

“Putting vehicle batteries between the electricity grid and homes makes it possible for homes to buy electricity for all household uses when it is cheap and clean—for example, in the afternoon, when there is a lot of solar power—and to store it in the car’s battery for later use,” says Parth Vaishnav, Ph.D., assistant professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability. “If you’re buying an EV because you want to cut greenhouse gas emissions—or if you’re making an EV because you want to cut greenhouse gas emissions—this tells you that, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, the EV could also help cut building sector greenhouse gas emissions.”