What is a Vehicle-to-Home Charger?
You'll be familiar with the concept of home-to-vehicle charging, the traditional method of charging a vehicle, where a charging cable from the home connects to an electric car or van and charges it.
Vehicle-to-home (V2H) chargers do the opposite. The electric charge stored in the vehicle's battery can be discharged into the home to help power it; this is bi-directional charging.
What is Bi-Directional Charging?
Bi-directional charging is a relatively new development in electric vehicle technology, and it could help utilise renewable energy more efficiently. To use bi-directional charging, your electric vehicle's onboard system and your EV charger must be compatible, and both must have a bi-directional converter. The converter, also known as a Current Transformer, is installed at the main grid connection point and changes the electrical energy of an electric vehicle from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).
How Does Vehicle-to-Home Technology Work?
Vehicle-to-home technology requires a suitable connector to enable power to be fed in from the EV to the home. This connector allows for charging your electric vehicle as usual and using the energy stored in your EV battery to power your home when it makes sense.
The average UK home uses just over 8 kWh of electricity per day, and the average EV battery capacity is around 40 kWh, with some vehicles having up to 100 kWh capacity. An EV battery could, therefore, power the average household for almost five days.
What is the Benefit of Vehicle-to-Home Charging?
The primary benefit of vehicle-to-home charging is that you can utilise the energy stored in your electric vehicle when you are not using the car. When your EV battery has some charge, its energy can be used to balance the national grid when demand is high, which can help reduce peak demand and improve the grid's reliability.
Using your EV to power your home during peak times can result in significant cost savings on your electricity bills and further reductions on your carbon footprint, especially if you're on an inexpensive EV tariff that exclusively uses renewable energy to recharge your battery at off-peak times, typically overnight.
Another benefit is that if there is a power cut from the national grid, your home could use the electricity stored in your EV to continue operating as usual without worries about your freezer defrosting, for example.
Whilst the technology is making good progress, there are still technological and regulatory challenges to resolve before bi-directional charging becomes affordable and accessible to all. Nevertheless, if the rate of advancement in the EV industry is anything to go by, it’s worth considering the benefits of bi-directional charging when planning for the future.
If you want to switch to using an electric vehicle so you can benefit from V2H charging in the future but don't have a driveway, then Charge Gully is the solution to your problem. Charge Gully is a cross-pavement solution that allows you to securely charge (or discharge) an EV, even without a driveway. Charge Gully is a unique cable channel that enables users to run an EV cable safely across the pavement. To learn more about our unique product, contact our team by emailing hello@chargegully.com, and a team member will be in touch.