Your electric car and your smartphone have something in common: they can both become portable charging stations! A phone can charge other devices, and a car can serve as a backup power source for your house. Imagine your electric car not only driving you around, but also powering your home or even returning energy to the grid. Sound like science fiction? Well, this is already a reality today. And for those of you who think this is just a nice idea for a "green" Instagram profile, read on!
How will an electric car solve the energy crisis and reduce your electricity bill? First, let's cover the basics. We have three concepts: V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid), V2H (Vehicle-to-Home) and V2L (Vehicle-to-Load). V2G means that your car can feed its energy back into the public grid, and V2H allows your car to power your home. The V2L is perfect for picnics when you need juice for your battery-powered speaker and forgot to charge it.
Now to the numbers. In Germany, where every third newly registered car was a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) in August 2023, the total is more than a million. So a million moving XXL charging stations - or giant batteries. Imagine all that energy! It's like ordering a pizza and finding out you can feed the whole block with it.Bidirectional charging is not just a fad. According to the new ISO 15118-20 standard, cars and charging stations can finally "speak" the same language. This means that your car can become part of the solution to our energy problems. Yes, your car could be a hero in the fight against “energy vampires”. And on the other hand, it could bring you profits if it were to transmit electricity to the grid when the need for it and the price is the highest.
Of course, not everything is so simple. But what if you charge your car with cheaper electricity at your employer, and then sell it back to the grid? It's sure to be a fun debate with the taxman! Because everyone will be able to trade energy and thus reduce the cost of their electricity bill.
Also interesting is that by integrating one of these expensive bi-directional chargers into your home, you can potentially earn up to €650 per year. Sounds like a great way to cover the cost of that new toy! So imagine a scenario where you have a large electricity storage at home and two electric cars. Then you have the potential to give off a lot of energy, or your excess, if necessary.
This technology is not just something for eco-fanatics or tech lovers, but will be the reality of the energy grid of the future. We will all have an "energy trading application" on our smartphones, with which we will mitigate the increase in energy costs in the future. As every roof will have its own solar power plant, this will truly change our energy future. Not only will you be able to use your car to transport the kids to soccer practice, but it might one day solve the energy crisis while you watch Netflix.
So the future is already here, and your car is no longer just a means of getting from point A to point B. It can become a key player in our quest for a better, greener future. And who knows, maybe our cars will soon make sure we have enough energy for all our gadgets – from our phones to our refrigerators. So, the next time you get into your electric car, remember: you're driving not just a car, but a potential solution to the energy crisis!