Vehicle-to-grid charging (V2G), which allows electric vehicles to export energy to the power grid, will soon be approved in Australia.
The government aims to make V2G charging available by Christmas 2024, according to Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.
“If you’ve got a car with V2G capability and a bidirectional [charging] device, you could be using that car to power your house before the end of this year,” Bowen said. “When you pick your next EV you won’t be buying just a car, you’ll be buying a household battery on wheels.”
Electric vehicle owners previously had to individually ask for approval for V2G charging from electricity networks and regulatory bodies.
Standards Australia has now updated its rules to allow the Clean Energy Council to certify V2G chargers.
The Clean Energy Council has not yet certified any chargers, though manufacturers aim to have them ready for the Australian market in the first half of 2025.
“I really am encouraging manufacturers both of vehicles and charging infrastructure to get their act together and get their applications into the Clean Energy Council — I’m sure they will, they’ve been waiting for this — as quickly as possible so we can make it a reality,” said Bowen.
The Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi Outlander are the only V2G-enabled electric vehicles widely available in Australia.
However, the new Renault 5 is V2G-enabled, and Volkswagen and BMW are aiming to release V2G cars soon. Regions like California are mandating V2G in all light electric vehicles sold from 2027.