Rajit Gadh believes California’s electric vehicles could serve as batteries for the grid | Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

Katerina Jowid
January 10, 2022
SLAGC News and Events

Publication: LAist

UCLA Expert: Rajit Gadh: Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science; Founding Director, UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC); Founding Director, UCLA Wireless Internet for Mobile Enterprise; Member, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: LAist explains how California avoided critical energy blackouts during the last heat wave.

UCLA News: Gadh said that the million electric vehicles in California today alone could be their own massive battery in conjunction with large-scale renewable energy run by utilities. Back in 2009, his team at UCLA demonstrated in a years-long study how electric vehicles could serve as batteries for the grid. “The person who is consuming is now producing energy and it’s happening more and more,” Gadh said. “Now the question is, how do you make everything work together?”