Vehicle to load (V2L) is a capability that certain electric cars and plug-in hybrids currently have and is likely to become more common in the coming years. Also known as bi-directional charging, it allows you to use an EV as a giant power bank by plugging devices into the car’s charging port to run them off the traction battery – the one that powers the motors.
It has the potential to be an incredibly useful capability, and it’s just one of the ways in which the electricity in an EV’s battery can be used for powering things other than the vehicle. In this article, we’re going to look at exactly what V2L is, how it works, what you can do with it and how else you can use the electricity in your EV’s battery.
How does vehicle to load work?
Those who remember GCSE physics will recall that we use two types of electricity. There’s alternating current (AC), which powers everything in your house, and industrial-strength direct current (DC) – it’s the latter that powers electric cars. Any EV charger you have installed at home takes in AC from the house electrics and converts it to DC before feeding it into the car.
Cars with V2L capability have an on-board converter that can switch the DC electricity back into AC and feed it out of the car for use powering other things. We’ll cover exactly what things and how to use V2L in the following sections.
What devices can I power using V2L?
In theory, you can power anything with a three-pin plug. We’ve used the Dacia Spring’s V2L capability to power a kettle and a laptop, and we’ve come across people running everything from coffee machines to lawn mowers from their EVs. We’ve even seen entire campsites powered from an EV’s battery using V2L.
However, there is some nuance. Every V2L-capable car we’re aware of places a limit on the amount of electricity that can be drawn from the battery, therefore limiting the types of device/appliance you can plug in. The MG4 has a limit of 2kW which is enough for a kettle but not a household fridge. We’ll get into how long you can power an appliance for using V2L in a following section.
We should note that kilowatts (kW) are a measure of electrical power. In electric cars, kilowatt hours (kWh) are a measure of electricity storage capacity.
There are quite a lot of electric vehicles with three-pin sockets in their interior, but they’re generally powered by the car’s 12-volt battery, not the traction battery used for V2L.
How do I use vehicle to load in my car?
The principles of using an electric vehicle’s V2L capability carry across every vehicle that has it, though the details differ between manufacturers. In all cases, you need an adapter that plugs into the car’s charging port at one end and has a three-pin socket at the other end. There’s a manufacturer-supplied adapter available for every V2L-capable vehicle; assorted third-party companies make them as well.
The details differ in turning the V2L system on – make sure the car itself is turned on first. With the Dacia Spring, you press a button on the adapter. In the Hyundai Ioniq 5, you have to go into the charging settings menu. You may also have to lock the charging port and/or go through other procedures to get V2L up and running. If it’s not obvious what to do, refer to your car’s handbook, ask the dealer or look online – there are lots of helpful videos.
Some people encounter problems using V2L with specific appliances, for instance a vacuum cleaner that wouldn’t run despite being compatible with the car. The owner discovered they could solve the problem by locking the car. If you’re having trouble, some trial and error may be necessary.
How long can I use vehicle to load for?
That depends on how much power your device draws and how much charge there is in the vehicle’s battery. Here’s a very basic example: if your device draws 2kW of power from the battery and there’s 40kWh of electricity stored in it, it would take 20 hours to drain the battery.
That’s the theory. Inevitably, there are many factors that affect how much power can be drawn from a battery over a period of time including the temperature and how many devices/appliances are plugged in. Again, some trial and error may be needed to work out how V2L works for your needs.
Also note that some cars with V2L capability – such as the Kia EV9 – allow you to set a limit on how much electricity can be drawn from the battery. Then you’ll know for sure there’s no risk of inadvertently using so much that you get stranded.
What else can my electric car provide power for?
Beyond vehicle to load, there are several other external uses for an electric vehicle’s electricity – collectively referred to as vehicle to X (V2X). You can, for instance, use an electric Volvo to recharge the battery in another electric Volvo. Perhaps the most intriguing possibilities, though, are in vehicle to home (V2H) and vehicle to grid (V2G) capability, as found in the Kia EV9 and Volkswagen ID models.
As the names suggest, V2H uses the electricity stored in an EV’s battery to power a house – or any other type of building – and V2G funnels the electricity back to the National Grid, for which you get paid. Most vehicles spend most of their time stationary at home or work, so using the electricity stored in an EV’s battery to power a building or earn some money could be really useful.
Indeed, it has already proven to be. Some people who live in areas prone to blackouts use their EVs as a back-up battery to keep the lights on. Or you could charge the EV’s battery at times of day when electricity is cheap and use V2H when it’s more expensive. Not just for an hour or two, either. A typical British household uses about 40kWh of electricity a day, and there are plenty of EVs with batteries big enough to last two days or so.
V2G could be a tidy earner, as well. The National Grid pays 3p to 10p per kWh of electricity it receives from domestic buildings, but some electricity companies pay a lot more than that. 20kWh of unused electricity in your EV’s battery could be worth as much as £5 when fed back into the grid.
All of which sounds great in principle, but there are some significant complications. Both V2H and V2G require a specific type of EV charger be installed and your house electrics need adapting. But before you even get that far, you need to study the costs and your electricity usage to see if the numbers stack up to make V2H and/or V2G financially viable. In many cases, it probably isn’t.
Which cars have vehicle to load capability?
There are relatively few electric vehicles with V2L capability currently on the market, though that will change in years to come. There are some manufacturers that have adopted V2L for all their electric cars, particularly the Hyundai/Kia/Genesis family. The Volkswagen ID family and its Audi/Cupra/Skoda spin-offs have full V2X capability, as well.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of electric vehicles currently on sale in the UK with V2L capability:
- BYD (all models)
- Cupra Born, Tavascan
- Dacia Spring
- Fiat 500e
- Ford e-Transit Custom (van), Ranger PHEV (pickup)
- Genesis (all models)
- Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6
- Kia EV6, EV9, Niro EV
- MG4, MG5, ZS EV
- Omoda E5
- Ora 03
- Peugeot e-3008
- Polestar 2, 3
- Renault 5 EV, Master (van)
- Skoda Enyaq
- Volkswagen ID (all models)
- Volvo EX90
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