When it comes to the electric car of today and the future, bidirectional charging is increasingly discussed. A feature that is already available in a small number of electric cars, but which will receive much more attention in the near future because it is a particularly practical tool for the challenges of modern times. Which electric cars can already charge bidirectionally at the time of writing and what can we expect from the near and distant future?
What is bidirectional charging and why is it so relevant?
With bidirectional charging, the battery of the electric car is used in two directions. Where a conventional battery can only be charged and converts the energy into kilometers and power for the car, a car that is ready for bidirectional charging can also send power to the charging station. This then feeds the network, by sending the power to the smart meter in the house.
Although this sounds very logical and simple, it is not. Numerous protocols and adjustments are needed to make this possible. In particular, the safety and mutual communication between the charging station, the car and the smart meter must be adjusted for this. Another threshold that is very noticeable is the high price of the technology. A charging station for bidirectional charging is much more expensive (at least twice as expensive) than a 'normal' charging station. Also, the cars that can charge bidirectionally are not the cheapest models and the network must also be suitable for this.
At the same time, bidirectional charging is more relevant than ever. First of all, because of grid congestion (a Scrabble word for grid congestion). If many households can store electricity when there is little demand for electricity and then use it (or redistribute it) when there is a lot of demand and little supply, the grid can be relieved thanks to bidirectional charging.
Of course, there are also great advantages on a smaller scale. For example, in the event of a power outage, you have more than a week's supply of electricity in stock and if you use variable electricity prices, you can hoard when the price is low and then use that cheap electricity when you need it (because that is often the time when electricity is most expensive).
These are the models that can charge bidirectionally
There are not many models that can charge bidirectionally at the moment. At the time of writing, the following models can do it:
- The Nissan Leaf (one of the pioneers)
- The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
- The Polestar 3
- The Kia Soul
- The new Volvo EX90
- The Nissan e-NV200
There are also models that partially support bidirectional charging (with a small adjustment this can be made possible). These include the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and the Kia EV6, and also the Renault ZOE. However, they are not listed above, because full bidirectional charging is not possible with the basic version of these models. Other cars that are prepared, but where bidirectional charging is not yet fully possible, are the Polestar 3, the BYD Atto 3, Honda-e, Lucid Air and the MG 5.
Many more models in the future, but that will take some time
Ask several experts in the field of electric driving when bidirectional charging will be widely deployed and you will not get two identical answers. What we do know is that there are a number of (significant) hurdles before the technology can be deployed on a large scale. We have listed a number of the most important factors:
- Lack of urgent need. We don't have that much trouble with grid congestion yet, so consumers aren't eagerly awaiting this technology.
- High costs for the technology. Enabling bidirectional charging is expensive and not all costs have been recouped yet, which means that the price of the bidirectional charging stations and the technology in the car will remain expensive for the time being.
- Clarity in the area of regulations. Since bidirectional charging has implications for safety, it remains to be seen what the guidelines and regulations will be. That is why many companies and developers are not rushing to implement on a larger scale.
Home battery versus an electric car that can charge bidirectionally
The legitimate question now is what the best option is when you are looking for a way to store large amounts of electricity, for example at times when electricity is very cheap or when your solar panels generate a lot of energy. The home battery seems to be one of the best options at the moment, especially because bidirectional charging still needs more time to be used on a larger scale. Since there is a good chance that you will be able to charge bidirectionally within a few years, there is also a good chance that you will be able to sell your home battery by then (if you want) since not everyone will have an electric car in the driveway within a few years.
Also, don't forget that bidirectional charging and a home battery can be used together, especially in places where more power is regularly needed or where different networks can be supplied.
V2L vs. Bidirectional Charging
Finally, we would like to briefly discuss V2L, because things often go wrong when talking about bidirectional charging. 'Isn't that already possible, since you can power your electrical devices with a V2L adapter via your electric car?' It is an understandable confusion, but a single V2L adapter can only transfer small amounts of power to a number of devices. The V2L adapter is not suitable (and not intended) to power an entire network. For that, the power must be transferred to the (smart) meter via a (smart) charging station, and the different actors within the network can communicate with each other. You could say that bidirectional charging is the next, logical step after the V2L technology that has already been implemented in many different electric cars.
