The facilities allow vehicles to charge during low electricity use and discharge during peak times, helping to smooth the load on the grid and provide financial rewards for vehicle owners.

(Image credit: Nio)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) continues to explore the use of electric vehicles (EVs) as mobile energy storage by bringing a fleet of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging stations into service in Shanghai, where it has its global headquarters.

Nio put 10 V2G destination charging stations into operation in Shanghai on January 9, the company's first such facilities in the city, it announced today.

This is Nio's pilot with the State Grid Shanghai for orderly charging and discharging in residential neighborhoods, following its previous such explorations in typical scenarios including parks, office buildings, and shopping malls, according to the company.

With V2G technology support, EVs can draw power from the grid and also provide power from the onboard battery to the grid, Nio said.

EVs are huge power sponges, and V2G technology could allow EVs to be turned into distributed mobile energy storage units, charging at times of low power usage and discharging at times of peak power usage, according to the company.

This could help the grid consume green energy, reduce the impact on the external environment, and also provide some financial return for EV owners, Nio said.

V2G technology represents the convergence of future transportation and the energy sector, and is an example of how technology can work in harmony with the environment, according to the company.

Nio has been exploring innovations in the field of vehicle-grid interaction and has been involved in regulating grid loads since 2019, and has already put in place V2G charging piles in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Qilianshan National Park, it said.

On October 28, Nio Power's vehicle-grid interaction project was included in a demonstration project in Shanghai, making Nio the only vehicle company selected for the program, it said.

Nio will continue to be involved in promoting vehicle-grid interaction at scale, advancing the construction of V2G sites, promoting clean energy consumption and reducing grid load, the company said.

Nio's exploration is being supported by policy in China, with the country hoping that NEVs (NEVs) will become mobile energy storage facilities when they are adopted on a large scale.

A document released January 4 by four government departments, including China's economic planner the National Development and Reform Commission, cited the country's goal of having the potential of NEVs as a mobile electrochemical energy storage resource initially validated through pilots by 2025.

By 2030 China will have basically established a technical standard system for vehicle-grid interaction, by which time NEVs will be an important part of the electrochemical energy storage system, providing tens of millions of kilowatts of bi-directional flexibility regulating capacity to the power system, the document said.

China will carry out scaled-up pilots of vehicle-grid interaction, aiming to build more than five demonstration cities and more than 50 two-way charging and discharging demonstration projects by the end of 2025, according to the document.

China issues guidelines for vehicle-grid interaction, aims for NEVs to be mobile energy storage facilities