Skip to main content

Bi-Directional Charging

In this episode - Bi-Directional Charging . . .

Can your electric vehicle (E.V.) power your home? It's a question that people are asking, especially with the rise in E.V. popularity. Technically, most E.V.s have enough energy in the battery to power a home for a few days, but it's not as simple as plugging into your charger.

All E.V.s store energy in their battery, but they lack the proper hardware and software to transfer all that battery power elsewhere. So, for most E.V. owners, the answer is no, you can't power your home from an E.V.

However, new vehicles like the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Chevy Silverado E feature bi-directional charging and can share that battery power.

Here are a few additional details about how this technology works, how you can turn an electric vehicle into a generator, and how long your E.V. could power your house.

First - What is Bi-Directional Charging?
Suppose you do want to use your electric vehicle as a generator and power your home in case of an emergency, power outage, or other situations like we've seen in California and Texas. In that case, you need a newer E.V. that supports bi-directional charging.
Bi-directional charging means your electric car or truck can send battery power in both directions. So instead of only receiving power from the wall charger, it can send it back into your home or the electric grid.

You may see this listed as "V2H" or "V2G" technology, which stands for vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid. Either way, they're all a similar idea: sharing the battery power from electric vehicles with other devices.

GMC and Chevrolet just signed a partnership in California to run a pilot program where its new Silverado E electric pickup can power homes or even help send power back to the grid during peak load times. Some car manufacturers call it vehicle-to-everything. Ford set up a similar partnership with PG&E earlier this year.

How does Bi-directional Charging work?

The first electric truck in the U.S. with bi-directional charging is the Ford F-150 Lightning. This technology is built into the truck, allowing it to use the built-in battery to power tools on a job site or your home in an emergency.

However, you'll need more than just the truck to power your home. Owners will need an upgraded charging system. This power box (inverter) can convert the D.C. current from the truck into usable A.C. power for the wall outlets in the home. And you will be required to hire an electrician to wire everything safely (to code). Granted, it's more expensive than a traditional E.V. charger, but here's the value added.

Since the Ford F-150 Lightning is one of the first vehicles with bi-directional charging, let's use it as an example. Ford sells the 19.2-kW Ford Power Station Pro, which is $1,310 to add to your house. This adder comes standard on the F-150 Lighting extended-range models and costs extra for base models.

Once your home is wired to handle bi-directional charging, you're all set.

For example, the F150 Lighting has a 131-kWh battery, larger than most E.V.s on the market today. According to the EPA and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. household consumes around 893 kWh per month, or ~30 kWh daily. You can determine your home's daily usage by logging in to your energy provider and downloading your hourly usage over one year.

Let's do the math, at 30 kWh a day, the F150 Lighting 98-kWh battery could power the average home for about three days. Real-world numbers will differ due to the loss of energy from D.C. to A.C. and other factors.

Also, several other electric cars have far smaller battery capacities, often around 70 kWh, meaning you could get a day or two of power if they support bi-directional charging.

While vehicle-to-home capabilities exist now, expect to wait a while before it starts seeing widespread adoption. It's also worth mentioning older homes may not have wiring capable of handling the high current coming from the vehicles.

Face it, It's still new technology, complicated, and not as easy as simply buying a new E.V. and getting all the required chargers. It is the future, and we expect most new E.V.s to support this feature.

Another thing to keep in mind is the overall power demand. During the hot summer, we've seen power outages in California, Texas, and Nevada. For example, last summer in Las Vegas, there were several days when the city asked residents to avoid using air conditioning to help keep the grid running.

Considering the millions of E.V.s that will hit the road in the coming weeks, months, and years could worsen the situation. As a result, we see a future where cars can use and share power on the fly, as needed, for a home or an entire city grid.

We're still in the early stages of bi-directional charging and electric vehicles. However, as things evolve and improve and battery capacities increase, this technology could be vital for any electric vehicle buyer.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. I'll see you in the next episode.

(Article repurposed from ReviewGeek by Cory Gunther.)

If you have a suggestion for a future podcast, email me at pball@sbcglobal.net or click the link  https://anchor.fm/patrick-ball/message and leave us a voice message.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

A Mother’s Day Reflection

With Mother’s Day here and the world bustling with cards, brunches, and busy schedules, I find myself reflecting on something a bit simpler: taking a moment to remember the person who helped shape my earliest sense of home. Mauricette Elaine (Bontemps) Ball. My Mom. We arrived in Cuba after leaving La Rochelle, France, in 1959—a transition whose enormity I only fully appreciate now. My mother, barely in her mid-twenties, stepped into Midwestern life with remarkable courage. Her smile could warm the coldest Illinois morning, and her hugs lingered long after she let go—quiet reminders that you were deeply loved. Born February 16, 1934, the third of four children, she grew up in Nazi-occupied La Rochelle. As kids, we listened wide-eyed to stories of soldiers patrolling her streets and fear shadowing everyday life. Yet she carried none of that darkness forward. What endured was resilience and an unwavering devotion to family—qualities she carried across the Atlantic and planted firmly in C...
1 comment
Read more

Freedom 7 - 65th Anniversary

Podcast - Freedom 7; 65th Anniversary . "Man must rise above the Earth - to the top of the atmosphere and beyond - for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives." - Socrates, 500 B.C. May 5, 2026, marks the 65th anniversary of Freedom 7's launch. Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. became the first American in space. A 15-minute sub-orbital flight, a day for the history books; the entire world was watching. NASA and the world had witnessed many trial runs explode violently on the launch pad. The space program was in its infancy. Unlike today, there were far too many unknowns. This prompted me to pull out one of my favorite books from my office library,  Light This Candle , by Neal Thompson, copyright 2004. Light This Candle is a biography of Alan Shepard, Jr., you won't be able to put down. It's - "Story-telling at its best . . . every page is alive," says David Hartman, U.S Naval Institute. In the opening pages, you read endorsements fr...
Post a Comment
Read more

That Fateful Four-Letter Word

In this episode, A Masterclass in Efficiency. For nearly four months, the western border of our property has stood as a living monument to determination, dubious planning, and forensic-level lumber acquisition. Since February, our neighbor Steve has been conducting what can only be described as a masterclass in deliberate calculation. This was never going to be one of those slick home-improvement shows where a cheerful pair of men installs a fence between commercial breaks, sipping lemonade. No. This was real life in retirement. We scaled the vertical wilderness of our hillside. We mixed concrete with the precision of medieval alchemists. We bled, we sweated, and we fought hand-to-hand with a buried tree stump that had the structural integrity of a Cold War bunker. By this week—May 16th, for those keeping score—the glorious end was finally within reach. The fence stood proudly, the line was straight, and victory practically hummed in the air. Only one major task remained: installing t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Truth for Sale

This episode is inspired  by Elton John & Bernie Taupin On Memorial Day, I took my first bike ride  since the accident , seeking proof that my legs, lungs, and nerves still remembered the road. The morning air carried that familiar Southern California mix of ocean haze, exhaust, eucalyptus, and sun-baked asphalt. My tires hummed across pavement I’ve ridden for years. Somewhere between the steady click of the chain and the rhythm of my breathing, Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s The Captain and the Kid found its way into my ears. There’s a strange kind of magic when the cadence of a ride syncs perfectly with a song you know by heart. Suddenly, the music and lyrics stop being background noise and become a lens. And through that lens, the road started talking. I've been cycling on this road some, Can't help feeling I've been showing my friends around. I've seen it grow from next to nothing, To a giant eatin’ up our town. Called up the tealeaves and the tarots, Asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more