Sleep tight, your EV is keeping the grid awake!

Nearly 135 EV batteries store and send power back to the grid when the supply is low

Electric vehicles (EVs) are now being used to power homes.

It is just a ‘vehicle to grid’ trial part-funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).

Nearly 135 Octopus Energy customers, who own Nissan LEAF cars are taking part in a pilot project that aims to explore the role of EV batteries in balancing the future ‘smart grid’.

The participants are incentivised to plug in their car at night when cars’ batteries will be used to store electricity pulled from the grid when it’s cheap and green.

The batteries will send power back to the grid when supply is low and power is more expensive and is usually coming from “dirtier” energy sources.

It is expected the batteries will feed the power back to the grid during peak demand, between 4-7pm.

This is made possible through a bi-directional charger.

The trial will finish next month with data gathering continuing until June.

Claire Miller, Director of Technology and Innovation at Octopus EVs and the brains behind the Powerloop project, commented on ELN: “Octopus Energy’s smart tariffs and home energy trials show that people will shift their energy consumption if they are rewarded for using energy outside peak times.

“Powerloop takes this a step further by actually paying people to use their car battery as part of the energy system. Not only is it a small local generator sitting on your driveway, but it also acts as a “backup” for the house so that when grid electricity is expensive the car supplies the home instead.

“It’s all done automatically so it’s zero hassle, but it makes EVs even cheaper – and enables the UK to get the most out of our abundant wind and solar generation.”

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