Car :: Could Your EV Become a Power Plant? A Guide to V2G (Bidirectional Charging)

Hello everyone.

 

Today's post is about one of the hottest topics in EV charging right now: V2G, or bidirectional charging.

 

"Did you know your EV could do more than just charge — it could actually earn you money by selling electricity back?"

 

V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) turns an EV battery from a simple mobile power source into a "mobile ESS" connected to the grid. The car charges overnight when electricity is cheap, then discharges stored power back into the grid during peak hours when demand and prices spike.

 

Beyond simple buy-low-sell-high economics, V2G can also help smooth out the variability that comes with a growing share of renewable energy, which is why utilities are paying close attention to it.

 

Making this two-way flow possible requires a standard that lets the vehicle and the charger communicate securely, and that's where ISO 15118 comes in. ISO 15118-2, released in 2014, introduced "Plug & Charge," where authentication and payment happen automatically once you plug in. ISO 15118-20, which followed in 2022, added native support for V2G, V2H (vehicle-to-home), and V2B (vehicle-to-building) communication, along with stronger security through TLS 1.3.

 

The EU is backing this up with regulation. Under the AFIR rule, newly installed public AC chargers must support ISO 15118-2 starting January 2026, and by January 2027 both public and private chargers will need to support ISO 15118-20.

 

There's meaningful progress in Korea too, even if it's still at the pilot stage. Hyundai Motor Group is running a V2G pilot on Jeju Island with 40 households that own an Ioniq 9 or Kia EV9, installing bidirectional chargers for free and covering the participants' charging costs for the duration of the trial.

 

The setup is simple: charge when demand is low, then send power from the car's battery back to the grid during peak hours. Reports suggest that bidirectional charging is working technically without major issues even in ordinary Korean households.

 

"What if the EV parked in your garage could quietly earn back part of your electricity bill?"

 

Still, there are real hurdles ahead. In Korea, EVs are not yet clearly defined as power market participants or distributed energy resources, so there's no solid legal basis yet for compensating owners who feed power back into the grid. In Europe, Renault's "Renault 5 E-Tech" stands out as an early example of a mass-market car shipping with V2G support, but overall the technology is still mostly at the pilot and demonstration stage.

 

Summary

 

V2G has real potential to turn an EV from a simple mode of transport into a "moving energy asset." But since the standards (ISO 15118-20) and regulations (like AFIR) are still just falling into place, it will likely take a bit more time before a V2G charger shows up outside your own front door. As someone who works on charging infrastructure, this is definitely a space I'll be watching closely ^^

 

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