China launches bidirectional electric vehicle charging stations

The world’s largest electric-vehicle maker is betting on a technology that has failed to take off in tens of other countries over the past decade.

The Chinese government is rolling out special two-way charging stations that allow parked EVs to send power back to the grid during peak demand periods. They use vehicle-to-grid technology, or V2G. At least 30 V2G stations have been set up across nine cities including Beijing and Shanghai. The plan is to have 5,000 such stations among…