Bidirectional charging technology enables electric vehicle owners to use their cars to power their homes. Here's how it works.
Electric
What is Vehicle to Load (V2L) for electric vehicles?
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have brought with them a whole new world of terms and functions. One of them is Vehicle to Load, or V2L. Here’s what V2L means for EV owners.
It sounds complicated, but all V2L really means is using the high-voltage battery pack of your EV or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to power an external appliance.
We’re talking about a huge variety of things here, including laptops, e-bikes, power tools and refrigerators. You could even recharge another electric car with a flat battery!
Electric cars make a great choice for motorists wanting to downsize their car to reduce operating and maintenance costs, or maximise renewable energy from a home solar system.
What you need to know about Vehicle to Load (V2L)
How does V2L work?
V2L is pretty straight forward. Just plug in the extension cord to your electric vehicle and the appliance you want to power, and away you go.
It's accessible by a V2L adaptor fitted to the external charge port or via an orthodox 240V three-pin socket inside the cabin. Some vehicles offer both. As a guide to pricing, Hyundai's V2L connector costs $595.
Note that not all EVs and PHEVs have V2L capability. Power utilisation does depend on the output of the vehicle’s battery pack and the power draw of what you're connecting it to.
So, here are some numbers to think about. EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles with V2L capability offer a peak useage rate between about 1.5kW and 3.6kW. Be aware that peak output is not sustainable for often more than a few minutes a time, so continuous power capability that can be maintained over a longer period is very relevant.
Plugless hybrids like the Toyota RAV4 can’t offer V2L because their battery packs are tiny.
On the other hand, a Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV’s battery is at least 58kWh capacity, while a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is 20kWh.
And what about the appliances? A fridge draws 140 watts, an LED TV 120W and a laptop 60W, so an EV or PHEV’s battery and V2L can handle any of them, or even a combination. Other appliances are more challenging. For instance, the average kettle consumes 1,200 to 1,500 watts of power when in use.
It’s important not to get V2L confused with bidirectional charging capability, which is also known as V2G (vehicle-to-grid) or V2H (vehicle-to-home) charging. That’s a much more complicated proposition that feeds power from your electric vehicle into your home’s electrical system and through to the grid.
"That really requires a more heavy-duty bidirectional charger that plugs into the charging port on the vehicle and allows you to export at a much higher kilowatt rate than you would achieve with a vehicle-to-load set-up, where the hardware is onboard the vehicle," explains Mitsubishi Motors Australia eMobility Strategy Manager Tim Clarke.
More: Guide to bidirectional charging in Australia
The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV can offer decent V2L capability because of its 20kWh battery capacity.
Do I really need vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability?
V2L can be used in a broad range of situations when you’re on the road or parked at home.
Camping is often cited by car-makers as being great for V2L. Instead of relying on CO2-emitting gas appliances, you can make the switch to electricity. If your vehicle is being charged on renewables, then it’s a virtuous circle.
Emergency situations such as electricity grid blackouts have also proved V2L’s worth. It’s feasible to run a power cable from your electric vehicle’s battery to your home to keep key items like a refrigerator operational. There is also a well known example of a Gold Coast family keeping their son’s dialysis machine running during a blackout by plugging in their BYD Atto 3 EV.
"There was significant flooding in Lismore a couple of years ago and we had early Ioniq 5 owners running around the neighbourhood plugging in high pressure hoses to their cars to clean up people’s houses and fences, just generally helping out," says Hyundai Australia Strategic Planning Assistant Manager Simon Bartnik.
Tradies often rely on diesel and petrol generators to supply on-site power, so the more enviromentally friendly V2L would work well for them. There will soon be a number of utes with V2L capability, including the BYD Shark 6 PHEV that’s due before the end of the year and the Ford Ranger PHEV.
How vehicle-to-load (V2L) ties into the home
Using V2L in the home is a simple as plugging in a power cord and running it in from the car to the appliance you want to power.
Or you can have an electrician install what’s called a change-over switch. This isolates a chosen circuit in the home and is usually intended to allow a generator to be plugged in. It also allows the car’s battery pack to plug in and power key functions in the house or charge the generator that’s plugged into the change-over switch’s socket.
But be aware it’s a job for an expert and some issues with vehicle disconnection have been reported.
More: How to find and hire a tradie for your job
A Gold Coast family used a BYD Atto 3 to keep their son's dialysis machine running in a blackout.
What cars in Australia have vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities?
The following list covers many of the cars that have V2L capacity in Australia, although the landscape is changing fast as new models reach the market.
You may notice that the biggest EV player of them all, Tesla, is not amongst them. It’s been promised, but we’ll wait and see on that.
Cars with V2L priced from $35,000 - $50,000
- BYD Dolphin – Peak output: 2.2kW
- MG4 – Peak output: 2.2kW
- MG ZS EV – Peak output: 2.2kW
- BYD Atto 3 – Peak output: 2.4kW
- Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV – Peak output: 1.5kW
- BYD Sealion 6 PHEV - Peak output: not provided by car-maker
- BYD Seal – Peak output: not provided by car-maker
$50,000-$90,000
- Hyundai Kona Electric – Peak output: 3kW
- Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – Peak output: 1.5kW
- Hyundai Ioniq 6 – Peak output: 3.6kW
- Kia Niro EV – Peak output: 3.6kW
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 – Peak output: 3.6kW
- Kia EV6 – Peak output: 3.6kW
$90,000-$150,000
- Kia EV9 – Peak output: 3.6kW
- Genesis GV60 – Peak output: 3.6kW
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 N – Peak output: 3.6kW
- Genesis GV70 – Peak output: 3.6kW
- Genesis G80 – Peak output: 3.6kW
More: Australia's best electric cars and SUVs of 2024
The future of V2L in Australia
V2L is expected to become more widespread as more electric vehicle models are sold in Australia.
"All of our electric vehicles are going to have some form of V2L going forward," promises Bartnick.
And when Tesla introduces V2L capability as soon as 2025, it's going to make the technology much more widely accessible simply because so many people buy Teslas.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is one of many EVs that offer V2L.
Are there battery or vehicle issues with vehicle-to-load (V2L)?
There aren't many issues to worry about with V2L. It’s pretty easy to operate and the power electronics in BEVs and PHEVs are smart enough to manage the system and any risk to it.
"It’s not possible to damage your battery using vehicle-to-load," says Clarke. "The onboard inverter protects the battery, so if there is any kind of risk, the inverter will shut down and protect the system."
The inverter’s primary job is to convert the DC (direct current) charge in the battery to AC (alternating current) so it’s compatible with home appliances. It will shut down V2L if it’s being over-stressed and too much draw is being requested for too long.
It will also shut down once the battery depletes beyond a certain point. That depletion might not occur for several days in an EV if you’ve started with a full charge and you’re being economical. A plug-in hybrid car (PHEV) can keep recharging its smaller battery by running the engine until it runs out of petrol. But that emits CO2.
"Ultimately V2L’s a tool and it’s up to the user how they want to use it and the situation they are in," says Bartnick. "We see it as the ability to take a little bit of home around with you and use how you see fit."
