Image Credit: Essential Energy
If your next car could put the brakes on your power and petrol bills, would you let it?
That’s the promise of vehicle-to-grid technology that has long been tipped for launch in Australia and was finally approved for use in homes and with the national grid late in 2024.
Only two car brands are ready to use the technology so far, but more options are tipped to launch within months.
The innovation could change the way people look at vehicles, say automotive experts who also warn it has been sold to consumers in the wrong way and could be more attractive than they expect.
Vehicle-to-grid technology, also known as V2G, is designed to connect an electric car to the electricity grid using a bi-directional charger.
With this equipment, compatible vehicles can draw energy from solar panels or the electricity network to charge during the day but they can also feed energy back into the grid or power a household when needed.
A V2G study conducted for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency found with the right settings, electric vehicle owners could earn as much as $12,000 a year by selling energy back to the grid.
Not everyone agrees that this is the right way to sell electric car owners on the technology, however, including Jet Charge chief executive Tim Washington who has been pursuing the technology for more than three years.
While it is possible to turn a car’s battery into a money spinner using V2G technology, he says most Australians will use it to power their own homes and significantly cut their power bills.
“For the vast majority of people, the message should be ‘you can spend no money on electricity’ rather than ‘you can have a side-hustle’,” he told AAP.
“The main goal is to bring down transport and energy costs for people as much as possible … and there is the opportunity to not only make transportation fuel free but to make household electricity free if you have a big enough solar system.”
Jet Charge has provided bi-directional chargers from Europe to test V2G technology in the only state where it was allowed until recently, South Australia, as well as for a pilot in Canberra.
But the laws around the technology changed in November last year, when Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced a standard for bi-directional chargers that would be overseen by the Clean Energy Council.
The first Australia-ready V2G chargers using standard, CCS type 2 connections should be approved and ready for use in the second half of the year, Mr Washington says, and while they may trigger a trickle of sales, that would quickly turn into “a massive flood”.
“People will start thinking about their vehicles as both transport and energy assets, and sales will gravitate towards vehicles that are capable of being used as … batteries for your home,” he said.
“Within the next five to eight years, people’s perceptions of what a vehicle is will start changing, especially if they have access to off-street parking.”
Electric car makers could invest in the technology to boost sales, which remained flat in several countries during 2024 and fell in Australia at the start of 2025.
Motorists purchased fewer than 4000 electric cars during January, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and Electric Vehicle Council, compared to more than 8300 in December.
Vehicle-to-grid technology could be the thing to reverse the trend if consumers see extra value in buying a battery-powered vehicle rather than a hybrid car, V2Grid Australia co-founder Matthew Downie said.
His South Australian company recently collaborated with Mitsubishi to create a bi-directional charger to allow its plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Outlander and Eclipse Cross, to use V2G technology.
Mitsubishi and Nissan are currently the only two vehicle brands able to use V2G technology in Australia as they use the older, CHAdeMO charging standard.
Chargers developed for these vehicles in Australia can be altered to use the new CCS2 standard in future, Mr Downie said, and the company was ready to make them available for other vehicles as soon as they produced compatible models.
“The biggest barrier at the moment is the vehicle (manufacturers) and their appetite to take it on,” he said.
“The hardware is available, the network’s ready, Minister Bowen made the announcement about every state being able to use the technology, so the one hurdle left is the vehicles.”
Polestar, Renault, BMW, XPENG, Audi, Volkswagen, Cupra, Kia and Ford are among the brands preparing to support V2G technology, which requires hardware built into the vehicle.
Others are likely to join them if the technology proves popular, Mr Downie said, and electric cars from China, where they are holding a national V2G trial, could be among those to drive the trend.
“I personally think a lot of the Chinese brands will be frontrunners in this space and the most proactive,” he said.
“Tesla could also be a company that pops out of nowhere and that would be a big game-changer.”
Having V2G technology standardised in Australia is a major accomplishment, Swinburne University future urban mobility professor Hussein Dia says, but widespread adoption could be “messy” due to its hardware requirements.
To accelerate its adoption, he says, the government should make V2G technology a mandatory requirement for all electric vehicles sold into Australia in future.
“We should make an effort to say from 2026 all new vehicles should enable this, and all new chargers,” Prof Hussein said.
“If we look forward and say we need to make this happen, it will work.”
AAP
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The key is to get sufficient scale of people buying compatible home and small business chargers to bring the cost down. And given recent news about EV battery life in real world use compared to lab test, the reluctance of some companies to support it should be much less.
Agree. Does the following make sense?
Over 2024, my home's maximum usage does not reach 30 amps of a 60amp service.
Some EVs already have 7.2kW bi-directional chargers but do not support bi-directional usage (Korean and Chinese manufacturers often have fully integrated electric EV system bi-directional packages sometimes described as 11 to 1). This would probably include V2L EVs.
Bi-directional capable EVs may be compatible with integration with Grid export. This suggests single phase households (95%+ of homes) will ultimately only need one of two V2G grid interface device options.
These would be Australian standard compatible integrated bi-directional devices either with or without including a bi-directional inverter. Depending on level of integration of the existing EV AC charger may only require a an export connection ($Cheap$) or a similar connection device with an additional bi-directional inverter (not so cheap). Ratings of inverter may optionally be less than 7,2kW (or 3 phase 22kW inverters).
At some point commercial services may standardise on integrated bi-directional charging for some or all their sites. It would seem obvious that home export is eventually going to be more rewarding than relying on a commercial service. This may not be practical for apartments owners, renters, grey nomads, etc.
Right idea - wrong key.
MOST cars in Australia spend ALL DAY parked up at work.
What is needed is a concerted effort to persuade companies to install solar panels and chargers at work (even trickle chargers - they are there all day).
That way the vehicles get charged up for free during the day - then go home and power their homes overnight (also for free). Pity about the "baseload" (not).
It would take an enormous strain off the grid and save every household heaps.
No need for all the multi-megabuck grid upgrades - we already have the ultimate distribution system connected to every load in the country - THE ROADS.
With One Million EVs capable of V2G we could replace the WHOLE NEM.
It would probably be cheaper to GIVE AWAY a million EVs than build the planned Grid Upgrades.
Agreed, and we should be working at a government level with the Chinese to get the Chinese EV makers to support our V2G standards ASAP.
We have standards?
Yes - formalised last November
The fact a reader of this site missed that news is a scary statement on how bad we are at education in this country.
It has huge opportunity; imagine if every new BYD or MG could also double up as your home battery?
They just need to want to do that....
https://afma.org.au/australia-green-lights-v2g-use-by-end-of-year/
By the way, only a touch over 50% of workers commute by car as of last census. That leaves a lot of cars sitting at home throughout the day
At a price of $35000 A car it would take 23 years to ay back, and your car must stay at home connected
Cars depreciate, don't expect to get a payback. You are buying it for transport first and foremost, and if your car is on the road during the day and can't charge, then V2G is not for you. For others who are lucky enough to have their car at home (maybe they can walk to public transport), or even part of the week (WFH days), or who can get free/cheap charging at work, this will make absolute sense.
Hahaha!
Interesting how you completely missed any humourous implication of my three word question.
But typical of you blowhard nerds to accuse everyone else of lacking education because they don't keep up with your nebulous 'facts.'
Irony is dead because there are so many stupid people around
Are you suggesting he is incorrect about establishment of a V2G standard?
So the company pays $70000 for solar panels so you can charge your car.
You must pay the company 70 cents per kw
It may also be cheaper to provide every home with solar and batteries as compared to most of the big upgrades, e.g. Snowy hydro....
The cost is then included on top of your 23 year pay back
"preparing to support V2G technology, which requires hardware built into the vehicle" In an article on this site, RedEarth claimed the ambibox V2G they will be making in Australia has been tested with most of the BEVs available in Australia. So does V2G require hardware built into the vehicle or does it not?
Why present V2G as a promise for lower electrcicity bills when V2L/V2H is already delivering this for years?
Only two car brands are ready to use V2G? Not quite. Of the other car brands mentioned in the article, Renault and Ford already offer V2G while the VW group brands offer indirect V2G via an E3/DC home battery system. Not yet in Australia of course.
Repeating the $12,000 earning capacity of V2G is a bit tiresome. Just two paragraphs further down in the report it says: "Should V2G grow in popularity, FCAS prices and revenues might fall due to an increased supply of energy resources capable of frequency control.[..] EV owners may not want to risk increased battery wear and tear amid a market with diminishing monetary returns."
The opportunity to not only make transportation fuel free but to make household electricity free if you have a big enough solar system? In my view that is promising too much because in most cases it also requires a home battery and/or consistent free charging away from home. This is based on my 5-year experience of "free" transportation and household electricity using solar, V2H and a home battery. That is "free" electricity after making the required investments. BTW, no bi-directional charger needed.
Martin4444's question: So does V2G require hardware built into the vehicle or does it not? If AmbiBox and InterControl who have done the tests can be believed, the answer is: No additional V2G hardware built into the vehicle is required. Apparently the DC breaker in all these EVs can be triggered to close from their device when connected to the CCS2 port. And that is really all that is needed for bi-directionality: power at the CCS2 DC pins. The V2G bit does not reside in the EV, but in the connected V2G device. BTW, AC bi-directionality works differently, i.e. via the in-built inverter/charger.
You said that about solar and wind, then you said a home battery.
Today you say a electric car.
The cost of saving a few hundred every 60 days or $1500 a year does not make sense from you
Battery and solar 16 years to pay back.
Ev at $35000 a extra cheap.one that you can not get is 23 years pay back lol
Don't throw numbers at them Tom. Their numbers are more educated and richer than yours, therefore better.
Did you buy your current car expecting a payback?
No? Then it's irrelevant. The entire premise is that you already OWN the V2G vehicle.
It's the V2G home equipment that needs to give a payback - and hopefully it will be a lot cheaper than the $10,000 Wallbox Quasar1.
Btw my home solar and battery payback period is about 8 years, well inside the warranty period. If you need 16 years you either specc'd it wrong or are not using it to its full potential.
I've had solar for 15 years and have earned money every year since the installation. Small power bills in winter are easily offset by the surplus during the rest of the year. It's really not that complicated.
Zdravstvujtye "Tom"
Agree
Government needs to mandate V2G for all EV Manufactures selling/will be selling their EVs in Australia by 2026
Andrew
This the sort of journalism that Big Oil/Big Mining and Old monied media (Murdoch/Sky Australia) would prefer you didn't discover. Electrical (renewable) energy in Australia is simply too efficient and affordable with little profit potential for Vulture Capitalists.
Don't know why V2X hasn't been mentioned anywhere.
That's what you want in an EV.
Ioniq 5 and Kia EV have V2G