Electric vehicles create problems for the grid. Could they also help solve them? The plan to turn EVs into reliable grid infrastructure
Energy Gang
Wood Mackenzie
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As we head into 2026, electricity grids aren’t just under strain; they are facing transformational change because of the shifts in the ways that we work, entertain ourselves, and get around. EVs are one of the fastest-growing new loads on the grid in many parts of the world, but are also one of the least well-understood. They can exhibit flexibility that’s mostly going unused today. Millions of EVs are already connected to the grid, and they’re being treated as a problem instead of a solution. So how could they be used to ease that strain on electricity grids? What would it look like if we could turn EVs into really useful distributed energy resources (DERs)?
Host Ed Crooks welcomes Apoorv Bhargava to the show for the first time. Apoorv is the CEO and co-founder of WeaveGrid, a company aiming to make EVs and other DERs function like dependable infrastructure for distribution grids. It wants provide utilities with trusted, repeatable, edge-level control of assets, rather than occasional, system-level demand response. Apoorv explains how it all works.
Apoorv is a former student of regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe, who now teaches at New York University. She joins the show to argue that there is still a great deal of uncertainty around claims of using flexibility to reinforce. It isn’t a black-and-white question, she says: flexibility only works when it’s engineered, trusted and planned for at the distribution level, not improvised through emergency demand response.
Together Ed, Apoorv and Amy debate how EVs and grids might be able to work together in the future, instead of against each other. They discuss consumer behaviour, politics and concerns over rising power bills as factors that will matter just as much as the evolution of the technology. The biggest grid upgrade opportunity may not be new wires, transformers or even power plants: it could be the Tesla, VW or BYD in your driveway.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today, we do not have the capital. |
| 0:01.7 | We do not have the resources. We don't have the human capital, frankly, to go build out the grid as much as all the load growth needs are pushing us to get to, not to mention that's causing huge affordability challenges. No matter how good the technology is, unless you can do that job of persuasion, you're not going to get an option. You're not going to get to where you want to be and where you could be in theory with the technology that you've got. |
| 0:23.3 | This is an infinitely flexible resource. |
| 0:25.1 | You can do whatever you want, as long as you send me the right signal and I can do, you know, |
| 0:28.8 | I can manipulate my behavior. And I think that's sort of where we have to learn to operate. |
| 0:34.0 | And I think grid operators are also getting used to that. |
| 0:38.3 | LNG 206 is the premier global conference and exhibition for the LNG industry, |
| 0:44.3 | taking place in Doha, Qatar, on the 2nd of the 5th of February, 2026. |
| 0:49.3 | The event will highlight how LNG can meet growing demand for energy, drive economic development and enable a lower carbon future. It will also explore issues including the impact of AI, changing ESG regulations, emerging low carbon fuels including hydrogen and ammonia, and ways to cut methane emissions. To understand where the industry is heading, LNG 2026 is the place to be. |
| 1:11.6 | Explore the exhibition floor, see the latest technologies in action and hear from the experts. |
| 1:15.6 | Register today at LNG20206.com. Hello and welcome to the Energy Gang, a discussion show from Wood Mackenzie about the fast-changing |
| 1:32.4 | world of energy. I'm Ed Crux. And on this show, we're going to be talking about one of the most |
| 1:36.7 | active debates in energy at the moment, and that's the role that new technologies can play |
| 1:41.8 | in solving the new problems that electricity grids are |
| 1:45.3 | facing. To talk about that issue, it's a pleasure as always to welcome back Amy Myers-Jaffee. |
| 1:50.0 | Amy is the director of the Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab at New York University. |
| 1:54.0 | Hi, Amy, how are you? |
| 1:55.0 | I am good. |
| 1:56.0 | Busy grading, theses and examinations. So nice to take a break from that and talk about the exciting things happening in the industry. |
| 2:06.7 | Absolutely. |
| 2:07.3 | It's that end of semester feeling, isn't it? |
| 2:09.0 | I'm sure, yeah. |
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