EVs-to-grid trial powers up

NEW Zealand’s first trial of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers is under way in Queenstown.

The trial, being run by nonprofit Queenstown Electrification Accelerator (QEA), started last Thursday with the commissioning of a StarCharge V2G charger at the Remarkables Market.

QEA co-lead Josh Ellison tells Mountain Scene the first electric vehicle (EV) connected to the charger was a Chinese-made Zeekr X, which is on loan to QEA by its New Zealand distributor especially for the trial.

It’s the first of several EV makes and models that’ll be tested with the charger in the coming weeks in the first phase of an 18-month trial that’s aimed at systematically collecting data on V2G systems in a real-world environment.

V2G involves the use of bidirectional chargers that allow EV owners to send power to the grid as well as receiving it.

That means they could use their vehicle’s battery to power their home for days during an extended power cut.

They can also save money by charging their EV when power’s cheap, then using it to power their home during peak times — with the added benefit of reducing strain on the grid.

Ellison says the trial will be gradually scaled up to 30 to 40 chargers, of between four and six types, being installed in a range of homes and businesses in the Whakatipu.

The chargers are still expensive — the cheaper of the two models currently for sale in NZ costs about $6000, he says.

However, compared to a household battery, which might cost $15,000, but can only store about 13 kilowatt hours (kwh) of power, that $6000 investment allows the owner of a late-model EV to tap into something like 80kwh of battery storage.

That’s three or four days’ worth of household electricity use, he says.

‘‘So the vehicle can provide this huge level of power storage that previously you’d need a generator for.

‘‘One of the big problems is people don’t know if [V2G chargers] are compatible with their vehicle, or their vehicle’s warranty implications.

‘‘So that’s one of the things we’re looking to solve with the trial, to help make that a lot clearer for people.’’

The trial, which is being funded by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority in partnership with Rewiring Aotearoa, is being run in Queenstown because of the area’s vulnerability to a major earthquake on the Alpine Fault, which could cut power for weeks.

Ellison says he’s been surprised by the public interest in the trial, with about 170 people already registering their interest, via qea.nz/v2g, in taking part. guy.williams@scene.co.nz