Octopus Electric Vehicles and Wallbox have partnered to launch the world’s smallest and lightest vehicle-to-grid (V2G) EV charge point in the world. Unveiled today (Friday 7th June) at Fully Charged Live 2019, the new unit will allow owners to use their EVs to feed electricity back in to the grid.
Available on Octopus Electric Vehicle’s ‘V2G Bundle’ customers will get a Nissan Leaf, Wallbox V2G charger, green energy, and VIP support. It’s all that’s needed to set up their cars to earn owners money by plugging them in.
V2G systems draw power from the car’s battery, to support peak demands from home use or the wider national grid. This means that energy costs are reduced, or money is paid for electricity fed back to the grid, and the car can be programmed to charge up during off-peak hours, when demand and costs are low.
Octopus V2G customers, in return for them plugging in their car to support the grid at least 12 times per month, can earn up to £30 cash back by plugging-in overnight. Renewable electricity will be provided by Octopus Energy on a 12 month fixed tariff.
More than 400 customers have pre-registered for the bundle, and Octopus EV is now contacting them to personalise the set-up and confirm the vehicle lease. It’s all possible because of the Powerloop project, which brings together Octopus Electric Vehicles, UK Power Networks, Open Energi, ChargePoint Services, the Energy Saving Trust and Navigant, and is part-funded by InnovateUK.
Fiona Howarth, CEO of Octopus Electric Vehicles, said: “Octopus Electric Vehicles are delighted to partner with Wallbox to be the first to offer this market-transforming, beautiful, small vehicle-to-grid charger to customers.
“One of our main goals in the Powerloop project that Innovate UK backed, is to encourage companies like Wallbox to create brilliant V2G chargers, which will enable the UK to cleverly balance the grid enabling us to transition to a renewable economy.”
Enric Asuncion, CEO of Wallbox, commented: “We have been developing this technology for more than two years now and we are very excited to release it in the UK together with Octopus. The ‘V2G bundle’ that Octopus offers to its customers is the best way we could imagine to launch this technology.”
