Queensland battery solutions provider RedEarth has teamed up with a German firm for the manufacture of DC V2G bi-directional EV chargers right here in Australia. The announcement had some excited and me a bit confused.
Through a partnership agreement with ambibox, RedEarth will produce the devices from its facility at Darra in Brisbane’s south-west suburbs – the first company to manufacture (assemble?) bi-directional chargers locally.
It’s expected a three- phase bi-directional EV charger will be available in the second quarter of next year and a single- phase version should be available in the final quarter of 2025. There’s no official word on price, but these solutions are rumoured to be much cheaper than first-generation bi-directional chargers that were around the $10k mark installed.
“This will allow EV owners to use V2X that includes both vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies to charge or discharge their EVs to their home or to the grid as part of RedEarth’s private power plant (PPP) ecosystem,” says the company.
One of the issues holding up V2G in Australia were standards for bi-directional chargers. Recently, Federal Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen said related standards would be fully in place by the end of this year. So, that side of things looks sorted and it’s time for the V2G revolution to begin; although the V2H aspect may be more attractive to some.
EV Compatibility
The bit that confuses me was the RedEarth announcement stated (bolding mine):
“The ambibox EV chargers produced by RedEarth are three phase compatible wall chargers that have been successfully tested with the vast majority of EVs available in Australia.”
My understanding was to use an EV’s battery to export to the grid you need a bi-directional charger *and* an EV that supports V2G functionality.
There are now quite a few EV models available in Australia that support what’s called V2L (Vehicle-to-Load), where you can plug appliances in to a special lead from the charging port (such as BYD’s Atto 3) or socket in the car. But this has limited (albeit very useful) applications, even with a “V2HL” solution called HOEM. But there are very few EVs that currently support V2G – the Nissan Leaf being one. Learn more about the differences between V2G, V2H and V2L here.
It’s not clear yet what sort of magic is inside the RedEarth box or what will be involved in wiring it up (and what that aspect might cost). Perhaps “compatible” is a flexible term; i.e. if the vehicle doesn’t support V2G, that aspect won’t be available and some form of V2H functionality may only be possible with vehicles supporting V2L. The role of RedEarth’s PPP in all this also could do with some clarification.
The other statement I found a little confusing was (again, bolding mine):
“The partnership will deliver Australian made DC EV chargers to EV owners without rooftop solar or home batteries in the first half of 2025. “
Another issue is how EV manufacturers will view their vehicles’ batteries being used in such a way in terms of warranty. But compared to driving, V2H and V2G can be a comparatively light load depending on configuration and limits set.
No doubt some light will be shed on all this in the months ahead. Regardless, it’s an exciting time for RedEarth, which was founded in 2013 and started out with a focus on off-grid battery systems before moving into grid-connected energy storage as well. More than 10,000 RedEarth systems and batteries have been deployed since the company’s founding according to the firm; and now it gets to add cutting-edge EV chargers to its stable.
If you’re considering purchasing a device to keep your EV topped up at home – and if you’ve got solar panels installed it’s a particularly good idea – find out everything you need to know about choosing and buying home EV chargers.
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