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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One solution in the meantime during the expected power failures is to use V2L, which is available from more and more EVs, like the MG4, but only with a supply of around two kW.
As it is illegal to use the domestic wiring from EV to essentials like fridge, lights and TV, a simple solution can be found with extension leads and V2L.
Hi Dominic,
That is a solution canvassed here :
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/hoem-review/
My understanding is what ambiBox have been up to is building bi-directional DC chargers that are able to push/pull DC power directly to/from the traction battery in the car via the CCS2 charging port. An inverter and rectifier inside the wall box converts to/from AC to supply power to/draw power from the grid, apparently including 3-phase if you’ve got it.
This is how they get to claim that the majority of EVs in Australia are compatible. Because they’re DC chargers they are not reliant on the car having a V2L inverter, nor do they need to be compatible with the car’s built in AC charger, they bypass all of that. The car’s don’t need any specific hardware beyond what is already present to support DC fast charging, and in most cases don’t even need a software update either. They have been doing tests and finding that the majority of EVs Just Work.
The only think holding them back is regulations for V2G and getting the car manufacturers to approve the use of this sort of bidirectional charger so that users don’t have to worry about their warranty.
Anthony is spot on with this comment. Specifically ambiBox have shown this to work with Tesla Model 3 and Y.
As to some other points in the article, Tesla, for example, explicitly prohibit use as a stationary power source in their warranty terms. I am hoping they update the terms to include a kWh throughput and allow owners to opt in. Though this may not be as high as one might think. Although the instant power use of driving might be a bit harder than the typical V2X use case the current effective warrantied amount on the battery is quite low.
Consider the 60 kWh base model 3 and Y. They have an 160000km warranty over 8 years. At say a 150Wh per km that is only a little over 8kWh per day of effective warrantied usage. I am hoping Tesla come in a bit higher than this thought time will tell.
This 8kWh per day warrantied amount is less than a powerwall so when looked at in that light a V2X where you could be cycling say 40-50kWh of excess solar would be harder on the battery than ‘car’ usage. With only 8kWh it would only really be of benefit to ‘bank’ up and use in grid events on a wholesale electric plan but even than not sure how easy it will be to get a return on the V2X charger product.
Whilst the article author said that the announcement from RedEarth left him a little confused, what I do not understand, is why, with the CCS2 connectors enabling DC energy transfer, the V2G principle has become such an issue, when, to me, it seems illogical that PV hybrid inverters that have DC coupling, do not simply provide hotplug functionality, as is available through computer USB connections, with PV hybrid inverters thence being able to easily charge and discharge to/from BEV batteries, the same as if the BEV battery would instead be a stationary battery.
To slightly reword a quote from Judge Bullingham, “It is (or, seems to be) just plain common sense”.
Hi Bret,
You’d think they would have tap ‘n go public EV charging too but here we are.
The protocols for hooking an 800v battery up to external equipment aren’t that straightforward, this video explains well.