More than 7 million electric vehicles (EVs) are on American roads today. Most sit parked for much of the day. Together, their batteries hold enormous storage potential. Yet almost none of it is available to the grid, because most of today’s EVs cannot send power back.

That is a missed opportunity when the grid badly needs help. Bank of America analysts estimate that the United States will need more than 230 gigawatts of new generating capacity over the next five years, while regulated utilities are expected to add only about 93 gigawatts. Data centers are a major driver of that growth.

Despite growing efforts to regulate and manage their expansion, data centers are not going away. The challenge is meeting their power needs without forcing communities to absorb the pollution and the costs.

How can EVs help power facilities that operate around the clock? Part of the answer is parked in our driveways. The grid faces its greatest strain during peak hours, especially during extreme weather. Vehicle-to-grid technology, or V2G, allows compatible EVs to return electricity back to the grid. Millions of these vehicles, coordinated by software, could act as a virtual power plant. They could reduce strain on the grid, avoid some fossil-fuel generation and new construction, improve air quality -- and even pay drivers who participate.

Tens of millions of EVs will be sold over the next decade. Decisions made now will determine whether those vehicles only consume electricity or also help support the grid.

The Hidden Costs of the Data Center Boom

Seven in 10 Americans oppose building data centers in their communities, more than oppose nuclear power plants. Their well-founded concerns include rising electricity bills, heavy energy and water use, noise, air pollution and land use.

A report from the Environmental Protection Network , representing more than 800 former EPA employees, cites research estimating that by 2030 , under a high-growth scenario, data-center-related air pollution could cause roughly 600,000 asthma-symptom cases and 1,300 premature deaths annually, at a public health cost of up to $20.9 billion.

Federal safeguards are weakening at the same time. EPA repealed pollution requirements for coal plants. It also finalized the repeal of most carbon limits on fossil-fuel power plants and proposed eliminating the rest. And it determined that power plants built to serve a single data center, with no grid connection, fall outside the Clean Air Act’s Acid Rain Program.

I spent 32 years at EPA working to cut pollution, and I know how hard-won these protections were. Watching them unravel as demand surges should concern everyone.

Building a National Grid Resource

The scale of the opportunity is striking. An analysis from GridLab, Kevala and E3 found that if just 10 percent of California’s projected fleet of EVs participated in V2G by 2036, they could provide about nine gigawatts of power for 12 hours. That is more than one-third of the long-duration storage the state plans to buy that year, which could be delivered by EV cars on the road.

The technology is no longer theoretical. Automakers including GM, Kia and Volvo already sell models that can power homes during outages. GM is releasing software that will begin letting owners send power to grid. V2G programs can protect the minimum charge drivers need, while careful management can limit additional wear.

States are Beginning to Build the Foundation

In Massachusetts, the ConnectedSolutions program already pays homeowners with backup batteries and is now extending to EVs . The state is providing two-way chargers and installation at no cost to selected households, municipalities, and school districts. Officials estimate enrolled cars can earn around $3,000 in a summer and electric school buses up to $12,000 a year.

New Jersey has launched a small Eco-Hub pilot combining two-way electric school buses with solar power, stationary batteries and a local backup-power system. Maryland requires utilities to accommodate two-way charging and has adopted rules for connecting EVs to the grid. Approved pilot programs will pay participating customers and the companies that coordinate groups of batteries.

California has authorized regulators to require future EVs to receive and return power if the benefits justify it. PG&E has expanded its bidirectional program to more models and offers $2,500 toward installation, with more available in disadvantaged communities.

Other states, particularly those with big numbers of EV drivers, should not wait. This opportunity extends well beyond regions hosting major data centers.

States adopting V2G should require data centers seeking grid connections to help pay for two-way chargers and home electrical upgrades. Utilities would gain a large pool of stored power without owning the batteries, lowering costs for all customers.

The Federal Government Has Retreated. The World Has Not.

The Trump administration and Congress have dismantled major federal policies supporting EVs. But the global automobile market and V2G technology continue to advance. Electric-car sales worldwide exceeded 20 million in 2025, on track for approximately 23 million in 2026, more than one in four cars sold.

Starting in 2027, the European Union will require new or renovated chargers, public and private, to support a standard that lets vehicles and chargers communicate for two-way charging. The rule does not require V2G service, but it creates a common foundation.

France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom already have commercial V2G programs. Utrecht is building a 500-car sharing service whose EVs can also support the grid. Germany has ended duplicate grid fees when electricity enters and leaves EV batteries.

China has announced 30 large-scale pilot projects across nine cities and aims to add more than 5,000 V2G charging facilities by the end of 2027. Hyundai Motor Group has launched a V2G pilot on South Korea’s Jeju island with about 40 participating owners.

Data Centers, Utilities, and private Investors should Help Pay.

States should require data centers seeking grid connections to help finance two-way chargers, home electrical upgrades and the software needed to coordinate thousands of EV batteries.

Utilities also have a central role. They should streamline grid connections, establish programs that compensate drivers and work with companies capable of combining many vehicles into reliable grid resources.

Private investors should help build the charging, software and aggregation businesses needed to make V2G work at scale. Many technology companies building data centers have in place future carbon neutrality pledges. Investing in V2G infrastructure would help support those commitments while potentially accelerating their own grid connections.

Automakers should make two-way charging a standard feature rather than an expensive option. States and federal regulators should also harmonize technical and regulatory requirements so that a program approved in one state does not have to be reinvented in another.

Public and private funding must cover upfront costs in lower-income and pollution-burdened communities. Otherwise, the benefits will flow mainly to households that can already afford the vehicles, chargers and electrical upgrades.

Most EVs on American roads today cannot send electricity to the grid. The opportunity lies primarily with the millions of new vehicles that will be designed and sold over the next decade that will rapidly increase the size of the US EV fleet.

For decades, America reduced air pollution while its economy grew. We should not surrender that progress to the data-center boom. The cleanest power plant is the one we never have to build—and the batteries in millions of future EVs could help make that possible.