A rush of electric vehicle sales from next year could put pressure on Australia’s electricity grid, a study has warned, unless the government makes policy changes to allow their use as batteries.
Environment group Solar Citizens released the warning on Tuesday in a report investigating vehicle-to-grid technology, which it found could help stabilise the power network, use more renewable energy and financially reward drivers for sharing power stored in their cars.
The report comes after a successful trial of the technology at the Australian National University and the announcement of a three-year pilot program run by Amber Electric.
Vehicle-to-grid technology (V2G) works by connecting an electric vehicle to a bi-directional charger so its battery can feed power back into the network during times of high demand.
The Batteries on Wheels report, prepared by Ajaya Haikerwal, found introducing the technology could help to manage energy peaks, stabilise the grid without more infrastructure, and use more renewable energy.
It could also reward motorists who feed electricity from their cars into the grid, with “the financial benefit for an EV owner participating in V2G services... estimated conservatively at $1000 per year”.
But the report also found that failing to take advantage of the opportunity could put the national grid at risk as the introduction of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard in January was likely to trigger more electric car sales.
The shift could add “stress on the grid at peak times,” it noted, unless those vehicles could also be used as batteries.
Solar Citizens chief executive Heidi Lee Douglas said Australia should seize the opportunity to let electric cars support the electricity grid before a vehicle sales influx.
“We know that more electric vehicles are going to be brought into the country with these efficiency standards,” she said.
“We want to be able to see the Australian government champion the world-class uptake of solar alongside batteries and batteries on wheels as a great clean energy and cost-of-living solution for the whole world to follow.”
The report recommended five changes to support the technology in Australia, including technical standards from the Consumer Energy Resource Taskforce, adding V2G to government modelling, introducing subsidies for V2G chargers and tariffs to benefit those who connect their cars.
The government should also review California’s requirement that all new electric cars should be V2G-compliant by 2027, the report said, to consider whether the same rule would work in Australia.
Automotive brands that support vehicle-to-grid technology include Nissan, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Cupra, Kia, Polestar and Volvo, but Ms Douglas said more should consider adding the technology to make their cars more attractive.
“We certainly wouldn’t be discouraging people from buying electric vehicles at this stage – don’t hold back,” Ms Douglas told AAP.
“But we already have in our community a lot of early adopters of electric vehicles and they’re crying out to use these cars as batteries on wheels.”
V2G technology has been tested by Australian National University researchers and will be the subject of a $7.7 million project run by Amber Electric next year, with some funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
