Families could soon save hundreds of pounds on energy bills by using electricity stored in their electric vehicles (EVs) to power home appliances such as fridges and washing machines thanks to new 2-way charging technologies being supported with government funding.
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Households could power their home appliances as a result of the development of bidirectional charging, which 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.
The successful companies are:
Hangar19 Ltd in Chelmsford will demonstrate a 3-socket bidirectional charger, making a wider range of EVs available for energy flexibility and bidirectional charging
3ti Energy Hubs Ltd in Leatherhead will combine a quick-to-deploy bidirectional charging hub with a solar canopy and energy storage battery, house in recycled shipping containers, which can make access to bidirectional charging available in more destinations, including vehicle depots
Otaski Energy Solutions Ltd in Gateshead will trial their bidirectional EV charger to enable fleet EV operators to access energy in a flexible way which could deliver savings in line with electricity supply and demand surges
Electric Green Limited in London will work with QEnergy to trial wireless V2X technology with a fleet of 20 delivery vehicles at Royal Mail. ■