Bi-directional EV charging

I am looking into getting an electric vehicle. Part of the case of getting one is to use it as a battery storing solar energy or low-cost energy, and then using it again when there’s demand in the house. Has anyone done this with their EV?

Wallbox does the first bi-directional charger I think - does anyone know whether this is a compatible with a Kira E-Niro?

https://wallbox.com/en_uk/quasar-dc-charger

I notice it is compatable with a CHAdeMO charging cable.

Hi Tom. No you can’t do it with the current versions of eNiro. I have heard of vehicle to Gris charging but you need a car that uses the Chademo connector at the moment and I have a suspicion that there was a test offered and it might not be easily available at the moment. I think the Ionique 5 has a feature that allows you to run electric items from the car, but not quite what you are looking for. So you might need a bit more research or wait a bit. Try the Filly Charged channel or ask the question of one of the EV groups eh Southwest EV owners or EVAssoc.

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The new Hyundai EV5 can do V2G but you would be better off having a battery installed, topping up during the cheap rate period 1230 to 0430 on Octopus then using that instead of the expensive grid in the morning or go the whole hog and have PV panels fitted too…thats what we have and do.

Hi Heather - thanks ever so much!

I should have said a bit more but basically we don’t use our car that much unless we’re all out and consumption of electricity is high in the house (we have a lodger above garage using electric shower and heating), and I want to install an air source heat pump.

Want I really want to do is to use the car as our battery as it’s got a massive expensive battery.

Will do the research as you suggest - thanks!

Thanks so much Steven - I’ll check out the Hyundai EV5.

We’ve already got a 5.23kWp solar array installed and I want to also put in a heat pump. Why do you think we should get a separate battery - couldn’t we just use the car?

I recently looked into this and found that only the Nissan Leaf has been ‘approved’ for V2G.

Just watched this. If you can hang on a couple of years, it looks right up your street. Also comes with an app for car sharing

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Thanks for this Heather. I’ve just watched it and couldn’t agree more - this is definitely the type of car I want :grinning:

I’ve been talking about bi-directional charging with a few friends - one of whom is a chemical engineer - @ben.langley. He has outlined that there is a limited number of charges a battery can do before it loses the capacity to charge. He said that over 1,000 charges batteries will only operate to 80% of charge - meaning bi-directional charging could result in the car battery being defunct in 3-4 years.

I’ve done some research since and find that if you treat the battery right you can get 3,500 charges to 80% - which means they could provide you home charging for 10 years. Check out this source; https://pushevs.com/2018/04/27/battery-charging-full-versus-partial/

I recon bi-directional charging is a good way forward. Has anyone else got info to add?