Chubu Electric Power and Toyota Tsusho jointly announced on November 7, 2018 that they will launch Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) demonstration tests in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, from November 14 to 16 and December 12 to 14, respectively. The tests will validate the effectiveness of value-added services such as battery charging and discharging, examine how the V2G system will balance the supply and demand of electricity, and study the impacts of V2G on power grids.

Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy have been increasingly deployed worldwide, but challenges remain in managing the fluctuation of renewable energy output and surplus power generation. In order to utilize the excess energy, Toyota and the U.S.-based Nuvve Corporation have collaborated to design the V2G system. The design aims to control the power supply and demand, storing surplus power in Electric Vehicles (EVs)/Plug-in-Hybrids (PHVs) and later discharging it back to the power grid. Chubu Electric Power and Toyota plan to submit a report with the project’s results to a Japanese regulator, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, by February 2019.