V2H, V2G: Repurposing your car’s electricity for domestic use

As part of the energy transition that is currently underway, one of the main challenges is electrifying our consumption through the production of electricity from renewable sources that don’t emit greenhouse gases.

Mobility is already becoming electric, with more and more people opting for electric vehicles you can recharge regularly at home, at work or using a public terminal.

When your car works like a household battery

As part of this transition, we should see an increase in electricity storage units. In the interests of self-consumption, the domestic battery should gradually be integrated into private homes. However, each electric vehicle has a battery with a more or less significant range. This is only in use when moving. The rest of the time, it stores energy that could be used elsewhere.

Through the Vehicle to Home (V2H) model, the idea is to use vehicle batteries to store energy and redistribute this within the home for daily consumption as needed: watching television, powering your lights, cooking, cleaning… In this case, the vehicle battery acts as a household battery.

Redistributing your vehicle’s electricity on the grid

The Vehicle to Grid (V2G) model even envisages the network-wide redistribution of electricity stored in the vehicle battery. In other words, you could store energy in your vehicle during the day (when the sun is shining and energy is available and therefore cheap) to inject it into the grid when people most need it (when it’s at its most expensive).

Ultimately, these models should allow everyone to save money.

As part of the transition, the roll-out of these models is a source of opportunity. Through the use of electric cars, it’s possible to increase the number of storage units. This enables us to create more balance across the network.

What equipment do you need to use the electricity from your vehicle at home?

There is no doubt that these models will emerge in the future. The technology is ready now, however developing these approaches involves specific equipment.

First of all, this requires the installation of a bidirectional charging station, capable of recharging your vehicle’s battery or even recovering the stored electricity to redistribute it elsewhere. We are now seeing these models emerging on the market.

On the other hand, your vehicle must allow the electricity stored in its battery to be redistributed. Most car manufacturers are currently working on the possibility of using the vehicle battery for other purposes. However, only a few vehicle models currently allow the redistribution of electricity for other uses.

Gradual adoption of these new models

The development of V2H and V2G will be gradual and depend on the pace at which individuals can adopt these technologies.

Consumption habits will also change. The challenge will be in encouraging vehicle recharging when energy production is most abundant and supporting redistribution at peak consumption times. To this end, dynamic management of charging and distribution must be encouraged, based on the needs of each user.

For example, automated systems must allow the distribution of electricity from the battery within the home in the evening, to then begin recharging ensuring the vehicle is ready for use in the morning.