Severe weather is becoming more and more of a regular occurrence in our Commonwealth. Extreme windstorms in Allegheny County earlier this year knocked out over 280,000 residents’ power. Many losing power for days. Instances of prolonged outages, such as these, demonstrate how limited access to reliable backup power can quickly become a critical vulnerability.
 
This is why I am introducing legislation to require new residential electric vehicle charging stations and new electric vehicles sold in Pennsylvania to be capable of Vehicle to Home (V2H) bidirectional power flow by 2029.
 
V2H capabilities allow for an Electric Vehicle (EV) to send energy from a car back to a home during a power outage, so that the home can use the electricity stored in the EV for critical energy needs —effectively functioning as a backup generator.
 
By better preparing Pennsylvanians for major power outages, this bill would help reduce the likelihood that residents go without electricity during emergencies, while strengthening overall energy resilience across the Commonwealth.
 
As bidirectional technology continues to advance, my bill provides time for this capability to become more widely available and accessible. Please join me in support of this legislation to help ensure Pennsylvanians have reliable access to power when they need it most, while also positioning our Commonwealth to benefit from increased grid resilience and reliability.