Bidirectional charging: Electric cars should feed the power grid

In the past, electricity simply came from the wall socket, for the toaster and, with a separate 400-volt line, for the oven. Now, around three million cars with charging plugs are plugged into the German grid – and the specter of a blackout is looming. In June, a power outage paralyzed large areas of Spain and Portugal. Electric cars were suspected of being heavy consumers – wrongly, as it soon turned out. Many people are nevertheless unsettled, even annoyed. To some, the supposed climate savior appears to be a burden, even a threat.