bidirectional

It's not the same equipment though. For V2H you need a bi-directional car charger whereas the solar battery is going through an inverter. There aren't that many bi-directional chargers around because they need to have an inverter built in (the car charging conversion from AC to DC is usually done in the car). Cars that have V2L also have a small inverter built in (usually around 3kW).

I'm far from an expert on this, but I'd imagine there's a bit more to bi-directional charging than I've said above. Anyone who wants to do it would probably have to replace their charger because even if it was possible to insert an inverter between the charger and the CU, the charger would have to have some sort of switching mechanism in there too. Maybe cars with V2H would have the inverter built in there instead, but my mind is now too boggled to figure out how that would work with your existing charger.

Yeah, a granny charger connected to the V2L and charging your battery would work I think. Slow enough though, but you could keep it going overnight when there's nothing else leaning on the battery.

There's a lot going on with repurposed batteries from crashed EVs being used for home solar storage. One of the biggest issues is getting the CAN bus in the battery pack to talk to the inverter. Some solutions out there, but still in its infancy and different cars have different communications happening on different pins, so it can be a massive learning curve.

But it seems to me the technology is still too young and we need another 3 or 5 years for electricians to understand the regs and for the chargers to hit the market.

That's it in a nutshell really.

Your car supports this bi-directional feature but its useless to you right now.

I am basically willing to lay down even €5k on a replacement charger today if this was possible.

€5k! Your current pain of having no power is evident there. I feel your pain. Been there and bought the t-shirt!

I vowed to not experience that again after having no power for about a week a few years ago and got a generator setup installed in the house which could be used with an EV if it had V2L (not V2H, V2G). Right now I just use an ICE generator and that runs the majority of the house (water, lights, internet, TV, fridge, freezer etc). Just not higher power devices like heat pump, ovens etc.

Its a small price to pay to keep the house running during these storms, while you wait for bidirectional chargers to become a viable thing.

Like you, I have my own water supply so when you lose power you also lose water which means no toilet flush…. hence never again!

You can use the EV Database to look for that. I find the search function there to be a bit pants, so I just google [make & model of car] EV database and it brings up the pages. I've done this for you for the ID4 Pro. Enjoy.

I won't spoiler it…😁

Thanks a million. Great to know when just after driving a 251 home from the garage. Thats what I get for not doing my research.

should have bought a EV9 🤬😢😜

How's it going? I'm an engineer in Galway working on a bidirectional charger with V2H capability for all V2L/V2H rated EVs. I'm currently working on the design of a prototype and I am doing as much research as I can across technology, policy and market sentiment - which led me to this thread. I created an account to give my 2 cents.

V2H is currently limited by the power output of the EV itself - for the most part we can see V2L-capable EVs with 3.3kW output (a household would need 7kW to operate at full capacity). So for now, for most EV owners, powering your home with your EV isn't feasible on a day-to-day basis unless your load is very low. However, you would get by during power outages to keep critical appliances going which could be enough value if you're working from home or have a young family.

As V2L and V2H matures, the power output of EVs will increase to support the load of a home - which is what I'm building towards. The Nissan Leaf can already support 7kW V2H.

The design I have works for V2L ansd V2H EVs as a bidirectional charger. It uses a built-in changeover switch to interface with your smart meter/ grid connection to prevent back feeding to the grid (the output of which wires into your distribution panel). The design also incorporates a UPS so there's no downtime when the switching from grid to EV and back.

I have a fairly good grasp of what's out there in the market and am happy to answer any questions on V2H. If what I'm building interests any of you reading this then sign up to the newsletter/ waiting list here and stay in the loop about future updates. https://mailchi.mp/b2358cfc52f6/email-signup

Some say the VW is range already have the hardware but it has not been enabled by the manufacturer

Latest ID cars have bi-directional settings. It tells you how many kWh's of lifetime usage you have left to use. I think its 4000 hours and 10k kWh's…. presumably whichever comes first.

They dont give you free rein.