A trial of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) smart charging has shown that the technology could cut home energy bills significantly while also helping to provide essential support to the grid.  

Marie Hubbard took part in the Electric Nation V2G trial using her Nissan e-NV200 campervan

Run by Electric Nation, an Innovation project of Western Power Distribution (WPD), in partnership with CrowdCharge, the project recruited 100 Nissan electric vehicle owners in the Midlands, South West England and South Wales.  

Drivers charged at off-peak times when the energy was cheaper and greener and used V2G to sell this energy back into the grid, or use it in their home, to help minimise energy demand at peak times.   

Participants who also had solar panels were able to charge their EVs with free 100% renewable energy. The trial allowed participants to transfer this green energy from the EV to the home at peak times, so further reducing demand on the grid.  

Full findings are yet to be published but the now-completed project is said to have proven that vehicle-to-grid charging works both from a technical point of view, and from the perspective of customer acceptance. It’s also shown significant potential for commercial fleets to reap similar benefits, but on a larger scale.  

Funded through the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA), the project differed from others by partnering with more than one energy supplier and allowing many different import and export tariff types. The business says this means that the trial was a more realistic simulation of a future world in which many streets will have a number of EVs using V2G chargers operated by different energy suppliers.  

Because the Electric Nation V2G trial used a number of electricity providers and tariffs, the project was able to show how tariffs influence charging behaviour.  

Marie Hubbard, who participated in the project with her Nissan e-NV200 campervan, said: “As well as trialling the Electric Nation vehicle-to-grid charger, I have solar panels on the roof of my house, and an electricity tariff that allows me to import and export energy. So, I set the vehicle to charge during the night when electricity prices are lower, and I exported energy from the vehicle to the grid during the peak times of higher demand.  

“The result is that as well as reducing my electricity bill from £50 to £25 per month, I also made £25 per month by supplying energy to the grid. This shows that vehicle-to-grid charging has the potential to reduce people’s energy bills, as well as helping to reduce the amount of electricity generated by fossil fuels.”   

Roger Hey, WPD’s electricity system manager, explained: “Vehicle-to-grid charging doubles the amount of flexibility in the electricity system, although in reality it brings even greater benefit because it also allows us to use the same unit of energy multiple times through charge/discharge cycles.    

“V2G has enormous potential to reduce the amount of new electricity network that we build and can contribute towards optimising the whole energy system in Britain, ultimately needing less generating capacity and reserve.”    

The V2G trial follows the first Electric Nation project from 2018/19 which at the time was the world’s largest EV smart charging trial, providing real life insight into people’s habits when charging their vehicle.  

Currently, only Nissan EVs can be used for V2G charging due to their CHAdeMO technology, but the CCS charging system in the majority of EVs is due to be V2G-compatible by 2025; from that point V2G should be possible for all EVs. Action will be required from the energy supply industry to make V2G work for consumers, but Electric Nation says its project has shown the many merits of such work. 

Full findings from the Electric Nation Vehicle-to-Grid end-of-project report will be available soon.