Vehicle-to-grid tech ‘could save UK households as much as £300 a year’

Good Energy, Honda Motor Europe, The University of Salford and Upside Energy, say EV owners could make the saving by storing electricity in their car’s battery and sending it back to the grid when required

Vehicle-to-grid technology could save households across the UK as much as £300 a year.

That’s the conclusion reached in a new report from Good Energy, Honda Motor Europe, The University of Salford and Upside Energy, which says electric vehicle (EV) owners could make the saving by storing electricity in their car’s battery and sending it back to the grid when required.

The EV would work alongside other home systems such as battery storage, solar panels, a smart hot water tank, and heat pumps to maximise efficient energy usage, save money and cut carbon emissions.

Using the University of Salford’s Energy House, a full-scale house set within an environmental test chamber, researchers found the average home could stand to save money by shifting the time of when power is saved or used – this can also result in a significantly lowered carbon footprint.

However, they also noted the adoption vehicle-to-grid technologies has a number of barriers in its way – initial outlay costs are high, with policy incentives required to help bring prices down and enable more households to participate.

The study highlights the need for scale is also key – batteries in EVs could help absorb excess power and reduce stress on the network but this is only efficient if a significant number of the clean cars are connected with a localised area.

Juliet Davenport, CEO and Founder of Good Energy, said: “We must take a distributive ‘whole systems’ approach to tackling the climate emergency. That is why vehicle to grid is so exciting — it is the missing link between electrification of transport and decarbonisation of our grid and our homes.

“Vehicle-to-grid is where solar power was ten years ago – the technology exists but it requires innovation, investment and joined-up thinking. With the right policy support, it could become another clean technology British success story.”

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