More drivers could soon use their EV batteries to power their homes and save on bills, thanks to funding announced by the government late last month for new charging technologies.
Households will be able to power their home appliances because of the development of bidirectional charging. The developing technology enables electricity stored in a vehicle’s battery to flow back into the grid or back into the home and workplaces, which can then be used to power other devices.
This builds on existing smart charging technologies, where EVs can be charged when electricity prices are lower overnight. Families could then use these Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies to save money on their bills by selling the electricity back to the grid when prices are higher.
Businesses could also benefit from the V2X technologies by storing electricity in their fleets of EVs and using it to power their operations at a later date. These technologies will also help make it even easier to rely on renewable technologies such as solar panels, with less need for fossil fuels to provide for surges in demand by allowing stored renewable energy to be sold into the grid instead.
Four projects are receiving a share of £4.8 million of government funding to support their work testing and implementing these innovative technologies.
