Exploring Heterogeneous Behaviors in Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Participation: Perspectives on Influencing Factors and Discharge Pricing

As the global energy structure transitions toward low-carbon and sustainable models, the new energy power system faces the structural supply-demand imbalance challenge. At the same time, the rapid development of electric vehicles (EVs) presents new opportunities for enhancing smart grid systems. Through Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, bidirectional energy flow between EVs and the grid can provide flexible regulation resources to alleviate supply-demand discrepancies. However, the large-scale employment of V2G faces significant barriers in terms of user participation, primarily due to the uncertainty and heterogeneity of EV owners’ participation behavior. To this end, this paper utilizes survey data and applies factor analysis and multiple linear regression to investigate the heterogeneous behavior of EV owners. The research findings reveal significant heterogeneity in influencing factors and discharge pricing. Initially, four core elements-technology awareness, social policy incentives, non-economic benefits, and personal economic gains—affect V2G participation to varying degrees across different regions and occupational groups. Subsequently, discharge pricing exhibits heterogeneous price sensitivity between different regions and occupational groups, with private-sector employees being more price-sensitive than public-sector employees. Based on these findings, the paper proposes differentiated promotion strategies for V2G projects, fostering collaborative development of smart grids and the electric vehicle market.