EDF launches new vehicle-to-home charging trial

Energy supplier EDF has launched a new trial for electric car owners with home solar systems.

The experiment aims to examine how bi-directional, or vehicle-to-home, charging technology can be optimised to allow customers to use the spare capacity in their EV batteries to power their homes and potentially save money.

The electricity provider estimates that customers could earn an average of £650 a year through two-way charging by topping up at off-peak times and selling energy from their car back to the grid at high-demand, high-cost times.

Motorists invited to join the trial will use bi-directional chargers from Indra Renewables to integrate their EV battery and solar panels, enabling them to sell any surplus power from their car batteries or solar systems to the grid at the best times on EDF’s Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff.

This trial is one of five developed by EDF’s research and development and customer teams and is part of the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero’s Alternative Energy Markets Innovation Programme. It is backed by £1.3m of funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

Patrick Dupeyrat, director of research and development at EDF, said: “Our mission at EDF is to help Britain to achieve net zero, and we will only succeed by empowering our customers and giving them the flexibility to manage their energy at home, saving them cash and carbon.

“This trial is exactly the type of innovation the industry should be striving for, delivering exciting new ways to reduce pressure on the grid and customers’ pockets and getting people across Britain engaged in their net zero journey.”

The trial will be monitored and assessed by Loughborough University and the University of Sheffield to see whether the arrangement can persuade drivers to shift their charging habits to low-demand and less carbon-intensive times.