The NSW Battery PRDS Incentive is Now Available
The NSW Battery PRDS Incentive is Now Available
Posted 30 Aug
Vehicle to Grid (V2G), Vehicle to Home (V2H), and Vehicle to Load (V2L) are all terms
which involve the bidirectional flow of energy between electric vehicles, homes, and/or the grid. V2H and V2G
are the 2 main terms, in which V2L is the parent term. These both involve the use of energy stored in electric
vehicle batteries for power homes, feed back into the grid, or other various loads.
Chris Bowen (Minister for Climate Change & Energy), has announced that V2G standards are now in play which means bidirectional charging IS allowed in Australia! More here.
Amber electric and ARENA have announced their partnership in trialing new vehicle-to-grid technology which will enable bidirectional charging for customers all over Australia.
(V2G) Vehicle to Grid refers to the energy from the electric vehicle battery and outputting the energy into the grid using a vehicle to grid charger.
Electric Vehicle batteries can be charged with solar or low-tariff grid prices and discharged back into the grid at times of high demand for rewards including deduction in your energy bill, and additional income, similar to solar feed-in-tariffs.
(V2H) Vehicle to Home or Vehicle-to-building (V2B), enables homes or buildings to be supported by the energy from EV batteries.
Due to the large batteries in EVs, this arrangement allows for a simple backup power solutions in times of grid outages or supplementation in high-demand periods.
Depending on the battery size and usage, this system could power a home for multiple days over extended outages.
(V2L) Vehicle-to-Load is the parent, broader term used for the using an electric vehicle to power any type of electrical load, outside just V2G and V2H. This can include any electrical load, from powering tools on a job site, to supporting emergency efforts with a large portable power bank.
The term V2L is more directed at the usefulness of using Electric vehicles as energy storage systems that can provide a range of solutions.
The terms 'Vehicle-to-load', and 'Vehicle-to-X' are interchangeable as they both refer as a broad term of an electric vehicle providing power to a load. They are both simply a 2-way flow of energy, like a phone being able to charge, and discharge to another phone.
Each manufacturer and model will have unique vehicle-to-X capabilities, including V2H, V2G, V2L, V2V, and V2B, but this can get confusing really quickly. Instead of doing hours of research, we developed a reference table of some of the mainstream EVs that support vehicle-to-X technology.
Some vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi PHEV, and Cupra Born EV support bidirectional charging which is compatible with Vehicle to Home, and some others only support Vehicle-to-Load to charge small appliances.
Whilst bidirectional charging is now available in Australia with the new V2G standards, approved chargers are not currently available, but it expected to change in 2025.
Most newer electric vehicles coming out have some sort of Vehicle-to-X capability. Below are some of the electric vehicles with V2X features and their corresponding battery capacity*.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 72.6 kWh | N | N |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 | 77.4 kWh | N | N |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| BYD Atto 3 | 60.48 kWh | N | N |
Y (2.2 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| BYD Dolphin | 60.4 kWh | N | N |
Y (2.2 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| BYD Seal | 82.5 kWh | N | N |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Genesis GV60 | 77.4 kWh | N | N |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Genesis GV80 | 87.2 kWh | N | N |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Kia EV5 | 64.2 - 88.1 kWh | N | N | Y | Y | N |
| Kia EV 6 | 77.4 kWh | N | N |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Kia EV 9 Air / Earth | 76.1 - 99.8 kWh | Y | Y |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Kia EV 9 GT-line | 99.8 kWh |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
TBC | N |
| Kia Niro EV | 64.8 kWh | N | N |
Y (3.6 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | 20 kWh | Y | Y |
Y (1.5 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| MG4 | 47.4 kWh | N | N |
Y (2.2 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| MG ZS EV | 72.6 kWh | N | N |
Y (2.2 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Nissan Leaf | 39 kWh |
Y (7 kW DC) |
Y (7 kW DC) |
- | Y | N |
| Nissan Leaf e+ | 59 kWh |
Y (7 kW DC) |
Y (7 kW DC) |
- | Y | N |
| Volkswagen ID.3 series | 77 kWh |
Y (DC) |
Y (DC) |
- | N | N |
| Volkswagen ID.4 series | 77 kWh |
Y (10 kW DC) |
Y (10 kW DC) |
- | N | N |
| Volkswagen ID.5 series | 77 kWh |
Y (10 kW DC) |
Y (10 kW DC) |
- | N | N |
| Volkswagen ID.7 series | 82 kWh |
Y (10 kW DC) |
Y (10 kW DC) |
- | N | N |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 131 kWh | N |
Y (9.6 kW AC) |
Y (2.4 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Tesla Cybertruck | 123 kWh | N |
Y (11.5 kW) |
Y (2.4 - 9.6 kW AC) |
N | N |
| Cupra Born EV | 58 - 77 kWh | Y | Y | N | Y | N |
| Renault 5 E-Tech | 40 - 52 kWh |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (3.7 kW AC) |
N | N |
| Lucid Air Pure | 94 kWh | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| Lucid Air Grand Touring | 114 kWh | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| Polestar 3 Long Range | 111 kWh |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y | N |
| Volvo EX90 Twin Motor | 111 kWh |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (11 kW AC) |
N | N |
| Alpine A290 | 52 kWh |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (11 kW AC) |
Y (3.7 kW AC) |
N | N |
*The below vehicle specifications are compiled, based on global datasheets, articles, and product pages, which are not based on
Australian versions of the vehicles, which may have different specifications. These details are purely for reference, and are subject
to change in conjunction with the rapidly evolving industry. This table does not represent all EVs capable of V2X technology.
The only current available bidirectional charger available in Australia is the Wallbox Quasar 1 which has been discontinued and will eventually be replaced by the recently announced Wallbox Quasar 2. Wallbox have not announced the Quasar 2's release in Australia.
With the announcement of V2G standards by Chris Bowen, bidirectional charging is now available in Australia. However, chargers will need to go through the approval process and are expected to come to market in 2025.
If an Electric Vehicle is subject to V2G or V2H, it can decrease the life span due to the higher frequent usage of the V2G battery. However, there are controllable methods to ensure the battery is regulated, so the lifespan is not greatly impacted.
Your vehicle's battery degradation will mostly depend on a few factors, your build quality and capacity of your EV battery, consumption habits, and discharge rates.
Most homes are on single-phase which allows for a maximum of 7.4kW charging to your electric vehicle, but will this be the same in exporting back into the grid? EV manufacturers may design their vehicles with discharge limits to protect faster battery degradation, and may even decide to not integrate this technology in the first place.
Ausgrid will consider the impact of additional loads and generation on the distributed network.
Solar owners will be able to take full advantage of their solar system by introducing a vehicle-to-home enabled electric vehicle which will help them absorb as much solar energy as possible through the day instead of selling it for dirt cheap. Instead, customers can discharge their electric vehicle's battery through peak demand periods for optimal returns to help return-on-investment.
Microgrids that add an electric vehicle to the mix only further their energy independence and stability with the additional battery
storage. Whilst electric vehicle's won't take over dedicated home energy storage, the added capacity will allow for even more
opportunities in not just rewards, but contributing to grid stability.
V2G goes hand in hand with Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), and refers to the situation where many discrete energy sources like homes with batteries of one kind or another are orchestrated by internet borne computer algorithms to either soak up excess energy on the grid like on a sunny day and provide the grid with supplementary energy to the grid in times of need.
Naturally big batteries will be able to supply and receive more energy and improve the grid stabilising effect and quite often its not large swathes of energy that are required but suitably timed large bursts of power either imported or exported; something an EV battery was designed for.
Yes, vehicle-to-grid is now available in Australia. Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy recently announced that the new standard allows for vehicle-to-grid charging in Australia.
Whilst this technology is still in its infancy, there are yet to be mainstream chargers and bidirectional solutions to be developed. Now that the standards have been developed, manufacturers for bidirectional charging products can now apply for product approval in Australia.
We expect V2G compatible chargers to be available in 2025 with the approval process now being available.
Other elements may affect availability, like converting to CCS-based bidirectional charging standards, general population awareness and demand, as well as technology development and innovation.
Whilst we see this technology become more available over the coming years, we see promising features that would allow for flexible energy production, storage, and consumption for all types of properties across Australia. We can only wait until the market arises and increases demand for bidirectional charging capabilities.
The journey of bidirectional charging in Australia has hit a milestone with the recent approval of the new standard for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging for 2025.
Amber & ARENA have started trials for Vehicle-to-grid technology in NSW, Australia to help develop standards and framework in V2G and Bidirectional charging.
Though bidirectional charging isn't available, vehicle-to-grid is already turning heads in Australia with its potential to change energy consumption and distribution.
Leave a Comment