Your EV Can Now Power the Grid from Home

A Kia EV9 and Wallbox charger just made a San Diego home the first to export power back to the grid

13 May 2026

A private home in San Diego County has become the first US residence to send electricity from a parked electric vehicle back to the public grid under a live commercial arrangement, in a development that could serve as a regulatory model for other utilities.

Paired with a Quasar 2 bidirectional charger made by Spanish hardware firm Wallbox, a Kia EV9 sits at the centre of the installation. Rated at up to 12.48 kilowatts of continuous output, Wallbox's charger can draw from or push power to the network while the home remains connected to the utility supply, removing a technical barrier common in earlier pilot schemes.

Grid scheduling is handled by Munich-based energy software company The Mobility House, through its Cascade EV Aggregator platform. Responding to real-time signals from local utility San Diego Gas & Electric, it charges or discharges the vehicle battery automatically, targeting periods of peak grid demand. No manual input is required from the homeowner.

"We have accomplished this, and have gone one step further to enable the system to export power and realize the value of V2G." – Russell Vare, VP of Vehicle-Grid Integration, The Mobility House North America

Announced at ACT Expo 2026, the project took under six months from first contact with SDG&E to receiving permission to operate, producing a permitting and inspection template that the companies say can be replicated across the utility's territory.

With a 99.8-kilowatt-hour battery, the EV9 can supply an average US household for close to four days on a full charge. Homeowners can offset peak electricity costs and earn income through grid export programmes, though precise financial terms were not disclosed.

Broader roll-out will depend on whether other vehicle manufacturers adopt compatible bidirectional charging standards, whether utilities harmonise their interconnection rules, and how regulators structure compensation for residential grid participants, questions that remain unsettled across most US states.