'Red tape' holding back Australian vehicle-to-grid technology expansion
10/22/2024 06:00 PM
Currently only South Australia offers bi-directional charging, but with less bureaucracy one car maker says the whole nation could be benefitting.
Somebody needs to "take a hedge clipper to the red tape" if bi-directional charging is to really take off in Australia, the head of Mitsubishi has said.
Speaking to Drive, Chief Executive Officer Shaun Westcott said that since the car maker introduced vehicle-to-grid charging at its headquarters in Adelaide in May this year, the concept has "gained a lot of traction" but there are still major barriers holding up a national rollout.
Mitsubishi became the first car brand in Australia to roll out bi-directional electric car charging functionality, but the process was arduous and involved a lot of back and forth with the South Australian power authorities.
"It’s gained a lot of traction, it’s gained a lot of publicity and now you have all kinds of governments quoting bidirectional charging as being the big solution. But what we do need is somebody to take – not a pair of scissors – but a hedge clipper to the red tape," Mr Westcott told Drive.
"Working with the South Australian authorities was…hard. SA Power Networks has worked with us and we actually have a bi-directional site working. Our head office is live. The problem is to get that to become a national standard.
"Again it’s bureaucracy, it’s red tape and the other thing is that the majority of EVs don’t have that bi-directional capability.
"It’s the future, it’s the way to go. Japan’s been doing it for years. Japan’s an advanced manufacturing society. If it can work there, it can work here too."
The Vehicle to Grid (V2G) tech at Mitsubishi's office was approved for export by the SA Power Networks (SAPN) earlier this year, marking a milestone for an Australian first by an automotive manufacturer.
As a result, Mitsubishi is now able to unconditionally export power from its Outlander and Eclipse Cross plug-in hybrids to the grid, though it is currently capped at a limit of 5kW per charger.
Mitsubishi's site joins Flinders University, also in Adelaide, in launching a V2G charging station last year, but as of now, South Australia is the only state that allows bidirectional chargers to be installed in homes.
And, as Mr Westcott points out, there aren't many vehicles which are capable of V2G – with only EVs using the older-style CHAdeMO plugs such as the Outlander PHEV and Nissan Leaf.
Bi-directional charging is where power can shared from an EV to an external source – such as a home or the grid – as well as traditional charging of the vehicle from that source.
It differs from vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities, which is offered in models like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, BYD Shark 6, and more, that can power external appliances or charge other EVs.
V2G is still an emerging technology, but it has the potential to stabilise the grid during periods of supply and demand fluctuations, as well as reduce energy prices for consumers.
According to the National Roads and Motorists Association (NRMA) bi-directional chargers are expensive, costing $10,000, and the time taken to reap the benefits for households can be in excess of 10 years.
However, soon EVs with CCS2 plugs will also be capable of V2G, and installing a bi-directional charger will be as simple as installing a solar inverter.
Australia is currently undertaking several V2G trials testing how electric vehicles can contribute to the nation’s energy grid.
These include the NRMA's EV Smart Holiday Parks Trial in Victor Harbor, SA, as well as AGL's Electric Vehicle Orchestration Trial, in residential settings across Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria.
In 2023, another project in the ACT used 51 Nissan Leafs to explore the ability of electric vehicles to provide additional support to the national energy grid.
The post ‘Red tape’ holding back Australian vehicle-to-grid technology expansion appeared first on Drive.
