EV Batteries Proven Profitable as Grid Assets in US Pilot

A UD and Delmarva Power report shows V2G-enabled EVs can earn up to $3,359 a year feeding power back to the grid

24 Apr 2026

A landmark research report is putting real numbers behind vehicle-to-grid technology, and the results are striking. The University of Delaware and Delmarva Power have published findings from a completed pilot program demonstrating that V2G-equipped electric vehicles are genuinely profitable for both private owners and businesses, supported by live electricity market data.

The pilot was conducted at Delmarva Power's facility near Newark, Delaware, using a small fleet of Ford Mustang Mach-E crossovers retrofitted with bidirectional charging hardware and an advanced communications standard. When parked, those vehicles fed power directly into the PJM Interconnection grid, operating as a coordinated virtual power plant. Ford, PJM Interconnection, and aggregator Nuvve were among the collaborators.

The headline figure is hard to overlook. A V2G-enabled passenger EV could earn up to $3,359 per year based on 2021 to 2025 market prices. For heavier fleet vehicles, trucks, or school buses, annual earnings could exceed $9,000 per vehicle. The report highlights a simple but powerful insight: privately owned vehicles in the United States sit parked roughly 96% of the time, making that idle battery capacity an enormous untapped energy resource.

The findings land at a significant moment for the US energy market. New PJM rules now allow properly certified EVs to participate in wholesale power markets, clearing a regulatory hurdle that had confined V2G largely to demonstration projects. Professor Willett Kempton, who pioneered V2G at the University of Delaware nearly 30 years ago, identified factory-fitted V2G capability as the critical next step. Built-in hardware would cut costs dramatically compared to retrofitting and open the technology to far broader adoption.

For fleet operators, utilities, and everyday drivers, the conclusion is straightforward: the EV sitting idle in a depot or driveway is no longer just a transportation asset. It is a verified, revenue-generating contributor to a more resilient American grid.