Is Your Electric Car the Home Battery of the Future
Your electric car may soon do much more than get you from A to B.
With bidirectional charging, an electric vehicle can not only receive electricity, but also send it back. This opens the door to a new way of using energy: your car could store renewable electricity during the day and supply your home with power when you need it.
In the future, your EV could effectively become a mobile home battery.
At Novectra, we see bidirectional charging as one of the technologies that could fundamentally change the way we generate, store and use electricity.
From charging to sharing energy
Traditional EV charging is straightforward: Grid → EV
Electricity flows from the grid into your car’s battery.
Bidirectional charging changes this into: Grid ↔ EV
Energy can flow in both directions.
This means the battery in your electric car can potentially become part of a wider energy system, alongside solar panels, home batteries and an Energy Management System (EMS).
That creates several exciting possibilities.
What is V2H?
One of the most interesting applications is Vehicle-to-Home (V2H).
V2H allows a compatible electric vehicle to supply electricity to your home.
Imagine that your solar panels generate more electricity than your household needs during the day. Instead of sending all of that surplus electricity to the grid, your EV could store some of it.
Later that evening, when your solar panels are no longer producing electricity, your home could use energy stored in the car.
The principle is simple: Solar panels → EV Battery → Home
Your car becomes an additional energy storage system.
This could become increasingly relevant as households look for ways to make better use of their own solar energy.
And what is V2G?
The next step is Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G).
Instead of supplying electricity only to your home, a V2G-enabled vehicle can potentially supply electricity back to the public grid.
This creates an entirely different role for the electric vehicle.
Rather than being purely an electricity consumer, the EV becomes a flexible energy asset.
For example, a vehicle could charge when electricity is plentiful or prices are low and supply electricity when demand is higher.
Multiply this by thousands or even millions of electric vehicles, and the potential impact on the electricity system becomes significant.
EV batteries could become a huge distributed storage network.
Your EV could become part of a smart energy system
Is bidirectional charging already possible?
Yes, but there is an important catch.
Not every electric car supports bidirectional charging.
And not every EV charger can send electricity back from the vehicle.
A functioning V2H or V2G system requires compatibility between several components:
1. The electric vehicle
The vehicle needs to support the required bidirectional charging functionality. Some EVs support Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), allowing the vehicle to supply power to external equipment. A smaller, but growing, number of models support Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) or Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G).
Examples of EVs with bidirectional charging capabilities include:
- Hyundai IONIQ 5
- Hyundai IONIQ 6
- Kia EV6
- Kia EV9
- Ford F-150 Lightning
- Renault 5 E-Tech electric
- Renault 4 E-Tech electric
*Availability of V2H or V2G depends on the vehicle version, software, charging equipment, energy provider and local market.
2. The charging station
A standard EV charger is designed primarily to charge the vehicle.
Bidirectional applications require compatible charging hardware capable of managing energy in both directions.
Whether you are looking to install a bidirectional charger today or want to prepare your business for the next generation of smart EV charging, Novectra can help you choose and install the right EV-charger.
3. Communication and energy management
The vehicle, charger and energy management system need to communicate correctly.
Standards such as ISO 15118-20 are helping define how electric vehicles and charging equipment communicate for bidirectional power transfer.
This interoperability will be crucial for the wider adoption of the technology.
Bidirectional charging with Novectra
Novectra provides EV charging solutions for homes and businesses, with a focus on smart and integrated energy systems. Whether you are looking for an EV charger today or want to prepare your installation for the technologies of tomorrow, our team can help you explore the possibilities.
Get in touch with Novectra for more information. We are happy to discuss your requirements and explore the possibilities with you.