Tantalising new technology means electric cars could reshape the power grid – and make drivers money.
Cars that plug into power outlets rather than fill up at petrol stations are winning over more Australian drivers. After a slow start, electric vehicle sales doubled last year to nearly one in 10 new vehicles nationally.
In particular, there are the potential issues if and when millions of electric vehicle owners arrive home about 5pm or 6pm daily, start plugging in en masse to recharge and guzzle so much power at once that they overwhelm the grid. If successful, this would mean EV batteries would not only avoid straining the system, but provide it with critical bursts of power to level out supply and demand, complementing other dispatchable power sources such as big batteries, gas plants or hydroelectric dams. It could also mean significant revenue for their owners.
This year, Amber, with the help of $3.2 million in funding via the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, launched a trial to develop and install 100 smart chargers and 50 vehicle-to-grid bidirectional chargers at customers’ homes. The prime hurdle to overcome before vehicle-to-grid can take off is that the only bidirectional inverter available in the Australian market, costing about $10,000, has been discontinued. The industry is waiting for another model to be launched and certified locally, hopefully by next year.
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