Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Auto

BMW begins testing new V2X tech for EVs in California

BMW is developing bidirectional charging capabilities in its upcoming EVs

By
2023 BMW i7 driving on the road.
BMW

Over the past few years, BMW has made significant research and development to prepare for an electric future. As part of its electric vehicle lineup, the German automaker has produced the BMW i3, BMW iX, BMW i4, BMW iX3, and Mini Cooper SE. It also recently introduced the BMW i7 M70 xDrive, and we know the BMW i5 is coming later this year.

But to catch up to the competition, BMW needs more than just luxury electric vehicles to convince its customers. Its trick up its sleeve is a technology that most EV manufacturers have not implemented yet — bidirectional charging.

Recommended Videos

BMW is working on a technology to use your EV for power backup

In a press release, BMW announced it has partnered with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to develop vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology until 2026. If you’re unfamiliar with V2X, it’s a technology that makes it possible for your EV to revert electricity to your home during a power blackout.

Related

However, V2X technology doesn’t just back up your home, it can also discharge power to the grid if you want to share it with your next-door neighbors. “Using V2X technology to create virtual power plants from EVs can help utilities like ours meet peak electricity demand without the need for non-renewable energy resources,” said Aaron August, the Vice President of Utility Partnerships and Innovation at PG&E while sharing the objectives of the partnership with BMW.

BMW i7 M70 xDrive on the road.
BMW

In fact, it’s not the first time BMW has collaborated with PG&E. In 2015, it launched the ChargeForward program to reward customers who prioritize charging their electric BMW cars using renewable energy supplied by PG&E. In addition to that, you can automate your BMW EV to charge during off-peak hours when electricity is cheaper. However, with V2X technology, you could sell electricity back to the utility company during high-demand hours at a profit.

At the moment, only the Ford F-150 Lightning and Nissan Leaf EVs have V2X bidirectional charging capabilities. If the upcoming BMW electric cars are designed with bidirectional capabilities, they will have a competitive edge over most electric car brands, including Volkswagen, Tesla, and Hyundai.

Then again, California lawmakers are discussing a bill that would make it mandatory for electric cars sold in the state by 2027 to have bidirectional capabilities — if the bill is passed, we can expect more automakers to develop V2X technology. Coincidentally, BMW and PG&E are testing V2X technology in San Ramon, California. The writing is on the wall — BMW has figured out it’s just a matter of time before bidirectional charging capabilities become a must-have feature in electric vehicles.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
James Dolan
James Dolan
Contributor
James Dolan is an automotive writer with extensive work experience having been published on The Drive, Hot Cars, Green…
Ford plays it all ways, focusing on EVs, hybrids, and gas engines
Ford covers every position in the race to profitable EVs
2024 Ford F-150 R airborne as it comes up a desert sand hill.

In a quarterly earnings call with investors on February 6, 2024, Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley outlined Ford's plans for EVs, hybrids, and vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEs). The TLDR version: Ford's going to keep pushing all three.

What Ford and other automakers may have seen as a straight transition path to widespread vehicle electrification has more curves, turns, and roundabouts than initially anticipated. Multiple factors are in play with EV adoption, from harder-to-get EV tax credits and unexpected cold weather and climate change effects on EVs to changes in EV development and investment strategies by global vehicle brands.

Read more
The U.S. government may delay EV requirements — what that means for car buyers
Automakers are concerned about their ability to meet aggressive emissions targets. 
F-150 Lightning backup power charging

Political winds of change are buffeting the transition of automobile power trains from fossil fuels to electricity despite studies showing the benefits of switching to EVs, including saving tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Improving the quality of the Earth's atmosphere would seem to be a cause everyone would support. According to a recent report in The New York Times, however, the Biden Administration may soften the early impact of proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tailpipe emissions standards for model years 2027 to 2032 and hasten the transition to EVs.

Why slowing tailpipe emissions level limits matter
The current administration sent a clear message in April 2023 with two EPA proposals that would significantly hasten the adoption of all-electric cars and heavy trucks. The effect of the EPA proposals would be that by 2032, 67% of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks and 25% of new heavy trucks sold in the U.S. would be zero-emissions vehicles. The standards proposal includes specific emissions levels from 2027 to 2032 but does not stipulate EV sales percentages.

Read more
VW ID.7 Tourer flagship EV will have up to 426 mile range
Station wagons may be a tough sell in the U.S., but Europe is getting a beauty
VW ID.7 concept vehicle parked on a stone driveway with a landscaped rock wall in the background right rear three-quarter view of white car.

Volkswagen begins presales in Europe this quarter of the ID.7 Tourer, an estate car version of the VW ID.7 fastback saloon announced last fall as the VW EV flagship. In the U.S., we'd call the ID.7 saloon a sedan and the estate car a station wagon. The photos that accompany this article are of near-production vehicles, VW says.

When VW introduced the ID.7 in November 2023, the company stated it was a worldwide release, and U.S. sales would follow the initial rollout in Europe. The ID.7 Tourer is a good-looking vehicle with more visual impact than the saloon, so I hope VW also decides to sell this newer model in the U.S. Station wagons haven't sold well in the U.S. in recent years unless re-labeled as cross-over utility vehicles (CUVs) -- which could keep the Tourer from our shores.

Read more