How Electric Cars Could Save the Grid

buy an electric car and you could receive hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a year, just for plugging it in

The cash benefit is just one of many in the so-called "vehicle to grid" -- or V2G -- project being developed by researchers at the University of Delaware

Their idea is simple: electric cars have to plug into the power grid anyway to get their batteries recharged. Why not use those batteries collectively as electricity "sponges" to soak up and wring out the excess power from utility companies that fluctuates notoriously on any given day?

Utility companies would benefit because they'd have a place to store energy; car owners would receive a fee to participate; and car manufacturers would have an attractive selling-point by which to promote their vehicles

if all of those parked cars were electric and plugged into the grid, the utility operator could automatically draw on the batteries exactly as needed, meeting demand