Purdue-led study reveals billions in hidden energy value from electric vehicles
A study led by Purdue University researchers and published in Cell Reports Physical Science shows that electric vehicles (EVs) could become powerful allies for the electric grid, helping utilities meet growing energy demands while saving billions of dollars in infrastructure costs.
The research team, including Junjie Qin, assistant professor in Purdue’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, developed a new framework that treats EVs as “virtual grid assets” like mobile batteries and power lines. By coordinating when and where EVs charge, the team found that EVs can help balance electricity supply and demand, reducing the need for immediate grid upgrades.
“Our goal was to quantify just how much flexibility EV charging can offer to the grid,” said Qin. “We found that this flexibility is not only real, it’s equivalent to billions of dollars’ worth of new batteries and power lines.”
Using real-world data from Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, the researchers discovered that existing EVs, without any changes to how people drive, could provide the same grid support as 740 megawatt-hours of battery storage and 15 megawatts of power lines in Chicago alone, representing over $900 million in equivalent infrastructure value.
This “hidden flexibility” allows utilities to support up to 35% more charging demand without expanding the grid. This buys valuable time as the nation transitions toward clean energy and widespread electrification.
The framework also helps identify the most cost-effective strategies for expanding EV charging infrastructure, showing how balanced investments in chargers and grid capacity can unlock even more flexibility.
As the U.S. faces surging electricity demand from electric vehicles, data centers, and electrified buildings, the findings offer a practical roadmap for making the energy transition faster, smarter, and more affordable.
“EVs aren’t just vehicles, they’re energy assets that, when managed wisely, can help power the clean energy future,” Qin said.
The paper, “Quantifying Spatiotemporal Charging Flexibility of Electric Vehicles as Virtual Grid Assets to Accelerate Sustainable Energy Transition,” was published in Cell Reports Physical Science. Co-authors include Ge Chen (formerly a postdoc at Purdue, currently an assistant professor at Great Bay University), Nima Rashgi Shishvan (University of Texas at Austin), and Zhaomiao Guo (UT Austin). The work was supported by the National Science Foundation.