Tesla boss Elon Musk has downplayed hopes that the company’s high performing and best selling electric cars will soon be delivering vehicle to grid (V2G) options, saying that the “utility” of the service is overplayed.
“Vehicle to grid sounds good but has much lower utility than people think,” Musk said in response to questions at the conclusion of the company’s Battery Day presentation, which unveiled improvements that will lead to a halving in battery costs and a 50 per cent-plus improvement in range.
Musk’s line was basically this, that unless you have your power cut off at your home, then sending back energy to the grid is just creating a back-flow on the network, and while there were many who thought V2G could deliver essential services to the grid at times, it could restrict people’s ability to drive when they want.
“People want the freedom to be able to drive, and charge at their house,” he said.
V2G, or Vehicle to Home is seen as a major new development in the switch to a renewables-based grid because the amount of energy stored in a mostly electric transport fleet could be considerable.
Numerous trials are occurring in Australia and overseas to test the technology and how it would work, and grid operators are openly talking about how to plug in to that potentially massive storage capacity. Some car manufacturers, such as Nissan, are already rolling out V2G capable cars, such as the new Nissan Leaf.
Musk and Tesla have some reason not to be so enthusiastic about it, even if the new developments in battery storage technology deliver longer life batteries that may not be so impacted by the more regular cycling in V2G.
Tesla has a rival product – the stationary storage units such as Powerwalls – and also has grand plans for autonomous driving, creating a fleet of “robo-taxis” that will be in near continuous use, at least when they are not charging. That means it might come down to how much an EV is paid to provide services to the grid compared to operating as a transport service.
“It will be problematic if you get to the morning, and instead of being charged, (the car) has discharged,” Musk said. “It will be better to have a Powerwall and a car operating separately. Then everything works.”
The irony is that Musk suggested that providing the V2G in a Tesla EV could be as simple as updating the software. And he said it was offered in the company’s first product, the Roadster “but nobody used it” (which is perhaps not surprising given the nature of the vehicle).
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.