UL Solutions’ new vehicle-to-grid certification program gives manufacturers a formal pathway to validate bidirectional EV charging equipment for safe, reliable utility interaction—an important development as transportation electrification becomes part of the distributed-energy landscape. For the lighting and electrical industry, it signals that EV infrastructure will increasingly be evaluated not simply as a load, but as a controllable grid resource affecting building power design, peak-demand management and resilience planning.
UL establishes V2G pathway
UL Solutions has introduced a certification program for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies that enable parked electric vehicles to export stored battery energy back to the electrical grid. The program responds to utilities’ need to manage rising electricity demand, accommodate variable renewable generation and improve grid resilience without relying exclusively on conventional grid expansion.
At its core, V2G reverses the traditional one-way charging model. Rather than drawing electricity whenever plugged in, an EV can charge during lower-demand periods and, when authorized, discharge power during system peaks or instability. With vehicles parked much of the time—UL cites an Electric Power Research Institute estimate of roughly 90%—their battery capacity could become a flexible distributed-energy resource rather than an idle asset.
What certification covers
The program provides testing and certification for bidirectional electric vehicle supply equipment under UL 1741 Supplement SC, a recent addition to UL 1741, the standard addressing inverters, converters, controllers and interconnection-system equipment used with distributed energy resources. The equipment functions as the supervisory link between the vehicle and utility: it monitors and controls energy flow while helping ensure compliance with grid-interconnection requirements.
Products certified to UL 1741 Supplement SC can operate with EVs using onboard bidirectional inverters designed and tested to SAE J3072. UL Solutions also identifies a second certification route for grid-interconnection and support performance: new UL 1741 multipiece distributed-energy-resource requirements used in conjunction with UL 9741, the Standard for Electric Vehicle Power Export Equipment.
Testing and certification are available at UL Solutions laboratories in Fremont, California, and Northbrook, Illinois.
Relevance to lighting professionals
For electrical contractors, specifiers, facility managers and lighting-control professionals, the immediate implication is that V2G will become more relevant to whole-building energy strategy. In addition, many lighting manufacturers sell EV chargers. As electrified buildings add EV charging, heat pumps, battery storage, solar PV and intelligent controls, the interaction among these systems will matter increasingly for demand charges, service capacity and resilience.
A commercial site with extensive LED retrofits and networked lighting controls, for example, has already reduced lighting energy demand and may possess granular scheduling or occupancy data. Adding managed V2G-capable charging could allow the facility to coordinate EV charging with building loads, onsite generation and utility demand-response events. The result may be lower coincident peak demand and a more flexible electrical profile—provided the system is properly designed, interconnected and certified.
The development also reinforces a broader market shift: electrical equipment at the building edge is becoming active grid infrastructure. Lighting has long been a major, controllable electrical load; V2G introduces potentially large, dispatchable energy storage into the same building and utility ecosystem. Standardized safety and interoperability testing are therefore essential before these technologies can scale beyond pilot projects.
Industry takeaway
UL Solutions’ program does not itself create V2G adoption, utility tariffs or vehicle compatibility. It does, however, address a key commercialization barrier by establishing a recognized certification route for the bidirectional supply equipment that connects EVs to the grid. As utilities, automakers, charging-equipment suppliers and building-energy stakeholders pursue flexible-load and distributed-energy programs, certified V2G hardware could be the next wave of EV chargers sold by lighting manufacturers in order to move EVs from a grid-planning challenge toward a practical resilience and peak-management asset.
More information is available here.
Top image courtesy of Pixabay.com.
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