Currently on a daily basis, terms like “bidirectional charging,” “vehicle to grid (V2G)” or “vehicle to home (V2H)” are constantly being used, but do you really know what they are talking about? So let’s talk about bidirectional charging, how it works and discover some more benefits it can provide.
Just as the word bidirectional says, or in other words functioning in two directions, bidirectional EV charging is exactly that: EV charging that goes two ways. To make it clear, in a unidirectional (one-way) EV charger, electricity flows from the electric grid into the electric vehicle and with a bidirectional (two-way) EV charger, electricity can flow both ways.
This innovation can reduce the demand on the national power grid, and in return save money as you take energy that’s already been paid for back from the Electric cars. Let’s put it this way, if you’ve already paid to charge your vehicle, why not use the left-over power to run your home too? Then overnight the electric car will charge, benefiting from cheaper power rates due to lower energy demand and making this friendly to the environment. Basically the concept of this product is to enable you to use your electric car´s battery as a secondary home power source.
Wallbox Quasar Bidirectional charger, charging and discharging simulation
Benefits of bidirectional chargers
1. Financial Savings: Save Money & Make Money
In the same way that consumers of solar panels benefit, those who return energy to the grid can make the most of it saving money on off-peak energy tariffs to charge your vehicle. You can also schedule when you sell power, so you can focus on peak energy demand times and get the best price for your power.
Bidirectional charging offers you dual benefits as you can then use the power for your charging during off-peak demand for maximum cost savings. When you consider the money saved by owning an electric vehicle, thought to be between €6,000 and $10,000 over the lifetime of the vehicle, going electric is a sensible and cost-effective option.
2. Environmentally friendlier
Bidirectional charging is an excellent option to make your home even greener, if you combine it with renewable energy sources like solar panels (a great environment friendly option), with bidirectional charging you can keep your energy requirements from the grid to a minimum. Sometimes renewable energy can be unreliable due to weather conditions, using bidirectional charging could encourage the uptake of renewable energy as electric motor users can use their car batteries to store energy!
3. Better management on local power needs
The possibility of using your electric motor vehicles as a power source for your home also presents huge benefits to your neighborhood. If more EVs owners use bidirectional chargers and use at home the power they have already stored in their car, local power-surges at peak times can be avoided or better managed.
Bidirectional charger stations can potentially allow apartment residents to sell their energy back to their communal energy store, opening up the benefits to people in all types of living situations.
4. Future-proof your life
Everyday there is improvement, innovation and development on new and clean energy sources, investing now lets you be part of the current and benefit from new technology. If you are considering acquiring a new electric vehicle, keep in mind that, in a few years, bidirectional charging will be part of the new norm.
Bidirectional charger installed at company parking lot for employees
Give back with Quasar
A great example is a Wallbox’s product, a first ever, at home bidirectional charger “Quasar” the world’s lightest and smallest DC charger and the only one designed for the home. Quasar transforms electric vehicles into powerful energy sources. With its bidirectional charging technology it lets you charge and discharge your electric vehicle, this allows you to power your home with just your vehicle’s battery. With Quasar, your EV battery is not only limited for driving, it will also give you that extra energy you might need to power your life.
You can connect to Quasar with your smart devices via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or 4G (optional). With features like facial recognition and gesture control, it’s easy to operate. You don’t need to be worried about any connectivity black spots in your garage or parking spot. Quasar uses Bluetooth, this feature lets you manage your charge station even when you can’t find a connection to the internet.
You can improve the charger’s intelligence with a dynamic load management solution, this is to avoid any kind of blackout or any type of unfortunate surprise in your energy bills. This solution will measure the home’s live energy usage to then automatically adjust the charge to your EV in harmony with your local grid’s capacity.
Wallbox Bidirectional charger Quasar installed for home use
One big power cycle
If you are curious and interested in more information on how Quasar works – the world’s first bidirectional charger, check out the following video or click here.
Bidirectional charging is now available and part of our sustainable energy sources and any day soon it will be not just the only but the best option. With this type of charging and discharging system, we can avoid wasting more energy and money than we need to, making this a very profitable investment for you.
Find out more about Quasar, the bidirectional charger from Wallbox
