V2G and the future of EV charging

Paul Kershaw, a self-proclaimed technology enthusiast is quick to explain his reasoning for getting involved in OVO Energy’s V2G trial. “I really liked the idea of it,” he explains. “I had a BMW i3, but I didn’t use it much, so I effectively had this great big battery sitting outside my house.”

For the specialised chargers required for V2G to work in this trial, OVO Energy turned to Indra Renewable Technologies – the company responsible for producing the world’s first domestic bi-directional charging unit. Yet, despite the need for some subtle home modifications, the installation required minimal effort. 

“There wasn’t too much involved,” Paul explains. “Once I had the charger installed at my home by OVO Energy, and once I was set up on the Kaluza app – which monitors buying and selling energy with the grid – that was it!”

What is V2G like to live with every day?

That simple-to-use Kaluza app is the key to integrating V2G seamlessly into your everyday life. It calculates how much you use your electric car on a daily basis, and cleverly keeps your battery level above that figure. Crucially, it also ensures you can plan ahead flexibly for longer journeys, letting you override the settings to ensure you set off from home with the maximum charge at the lowest possible cost, and don’t have to rely on public charging.

“The app made V2G so easy to use,” says Paul. “I don’t have to worry about it, which means a lot to me. It was just a matter of parking the car up, plugging it in, and leaving it. The app really takes care of everything.”

“The minimum charge that I typically needed to use my car was very small – around 20% – so the app never took my battery lower than that. If I ever did need the car for more than the usual amount – if I was travelling a long distance to visit a friend as a one-off – I could use the ‘boost’ feature. The boost button overrides any of the grid settings and started charging my car right there and then.

“I got an annual summary from the OVO Energy app, and it said I was “99.1% green” in my energy usage, as I only needed to use the boost function once. So, I almost never needed to demand extra energy from the grid. The car is like the beating heart to my house now, but I don’t notice it at all – it’s just in the background doing its job.

How can V2G help you cut your home energy bills?

The key advantage to V2G is helping you to cut the costs of your home energy bills. By using energy from the grid to charge your car at the cheapest rates and tariffs (typically overnight) and then exporting it back to the grid when it’s needed at peak times during the day, you can effectively offset your bills.In fact, Paul was exporting more energy to the grid than he was using himself, meaning that by the time the summer came around (where he wasn’t using as much energy) he wasn’t having to pay anything in the way of home energy costs out of his pocket.

“During the trial, I was exporting enough energy to cover all of my home's electricity and gas needs” says Paul. “Over the course of the year, I essentially offset my bills. I was buying energy at 30p, but when I sold it back to the grid, I was making 38p. Over the course of 12 months, that added up sufficiently. I was essentially moving my bills back to £0.”

“I feel very lucky having signed on to the trial – especially considering what’s going on right now. But it isn’t just savings over the last few months. It feels good to know that I’m assisting the grid, as well as myself.”

The V2G trial: key takeaways

Now that OVO Energy's V2G trial has come to an end, we wanted to know whether this bi-directional charging technology has lived up to expectations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the trial has led to more than just money back and – for Paul – a real sense of engagement in the importance of evolving how we charge our EVs and why it matters.

“My experience has been overwhelmingly positive” he says. “I would definitely say OVO Energy’s V2G scheme has helped me focus on living a more sustainable lifestyle, without incurring stress about the costs of doing so. Being more green is a personal interest of mine, so emotionally, there has been a real feel-good impact.”