  Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) is a promising approach to solve the problem of
grid-level intermittent supply and demand mismatch, caused due to renewable
energy resources, because it uses the existing resource of electric vehicle
(EV) batteries as the energy storage medium. EV battery design together with an
impetus on profitability for participating EV owners is pivotal for V2G
success. To better understand what battery device parameters are most important
for V2G adoption, we model the economics of V2G process under realistic
conditions. Most previous studies that perform V2G economic analysis, assume
ideal driving conditions, use linear battery degradation models, or only
consider V2G for ancillary services. Our model accounts realistic battery
degradation, empirical charging efficiencies, for randomness in commute
behavior, and historic hourly electricity prices in six cities in the United
States. We model user behavior with Bayesian optimization to provide a
best-case scenario for V2G. Across all cities, we find that charging rate and
efficiency are the most important factors that determine EV users' profits.
Surprisingly, EV battery cost and thus degradation due to cycling has little
effect. These findings should help focus research on figures of merit that
better reflect real usage of batteries in a V2G economy.
