Are there any Forum members who used to be part of the V2G trial?

Hi ​@Sam72 

It's been a while since I last heard about V2G trials. The last one involved the Wallbox Quasar and Nissan Leaf cars. The Leaf was chosen because the Chademo standard supports bidirectional power transfer.

However the trial ended and the Quasar unit became just a humble EV charger. Quite a lot of them died and a small group of people on SpeakEV tried to resurect them but reading between the lines I think there is a fundamental design issue with them which means they will all die eventually.

I've heard that Nissan are coming up with a new V2G box priced at around £3700. Wallbox have the Quasar 2 at around six grand (not too bad if you say it quickly).

I'm not sure what energy companies are going to be interested in V2G. I think the uptake (for the price of the unit) is not going to make any appreciable difference to the grid at peak times. And that's about all I have. A sort of - It would be nice to do but is it really going to make that much difference - after all the hype in the press that it would solve the problems of the grid being heavily loaded during the peak.

Have you heard anything?

Peter

Hi Peter, I have a V2G that I got as part of an original trial by OVO and it is still going strong. OVO used to pay an export credit, but are now trialling a new compensation method and I was wondering whether any of the OG group were stll here and moving to the new trial, and in particular what their thoughts were on it. Cheers Samir

Hi Samir

I hope you get replies from anyone else on here who were part of the trial. I don't know how else you would contact them other than create an account on SpeakEV.com and ask the same question there, perhaps with the same title. The likelihood is that some of those with the same V2G migrated to other energy suppliers over time so they won't see your question on here. There was a Quasar for sale on there not so long ago for £2500 but I don't know if it got sold or not. I think the price is a barrier to it being widely adopted.

Best of luck contacting other people. 

Peter

Hey ​@Sam72,

That's a fantastic question! I’ve reached out internally to find out if there’s anything we can share, since I don’t think we have any details about a new trial on the Forum just yet. It’s possible they’re just exploring options with a small group of users. I'll keep you posted as soon as I hear more! 

V2G has started to become more prominent in the press. I've just had a quick scout around the articles on line and found this one which has a broader, more Eurocentric flavour to it. This started with a thread about where V2G had got to which led me to quote my standard reply about the potential, if not the reality, of the expensive Wallbox Quasar 2 unit. 

What I found was surprising and also encoraging although the way ahead seems to be split into two camps. AC and DC. I'm not going to add any more summary here but just post what is a very interesting link. We are not quite there yet but manufacturers have been quietly equipping their EVs with the all important birdirectional charging facility. Enjoy!

https://www.enlit.world/library/from-garage-to-grid-the-state-of-v2g-and-v2h-in-europe

Peter

Morning ​@Peter E! 

Thanks for sharing that—so interesting! I’ll tag ​@Sam72 so they get a heads-up and can swing by to check it out when they have a moment.

It’s really interesting to learn that the UK is seen as an emerging player in this space. It sounds like we’re actually a lot further along in adopting vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology than I realised. I know when I first started on the Forum the OG scheme was just being wound down at the time but i'll be keeping a close eye on the progress of new schemes and we can look at how to help support this here on the Forum. 

There is also a lot going on in the US which is why I had to focus my search for the European references. I had no idea either so this was a gold mine for me as well. Thank you ​@Sam72 for kicking this off again. One for our Technology Corner?

Peter 

Thanks for the link Peter E. So Ovo changed their model for V2G users recently - it used to be that we got paid an extra 15p/kWh for energy we discharged into the grid, but for the end user the system was never the easiest to analyse. The new system, which I’ve been on for a month now, while not necessarily as financially motiviating, at least provides better clarity on what is happening. Here’s a picure of my first month’s usage:

As you cash see the car has has been plugged in quite a lot (we’re not massive users) and in the month has been charged 431.6 kWh and discharged 307.1 kWh, so the net car usage is actually only 124.5 kWh (probably slightly less as I assume there is a slight net loss due to the charge/dischage process). The transparency is better, at least now I know roughly how much I’m charging the car and also how much Ovo is calling on it for energy (much more than I would have expected). Cheers Samir

​@Sam72 That's fascinating. Thanks for posting your view on how that works. 

You can assume about 8/9% loss on the charge/discharge paths due to inverter loss and the power taken by the car whilst those processes are running.

Peter 

That’s interesting Peter, so if Ovo is reimbursing me the 431 KwH, do you think the 8/9% loss is within that figure, or would that be being picked up in my house bill usage (I mean running the V2G charger itself would come with a cost), especially how much they are using it to discharge the battery.

My initial thought is that OVO can only see what is drawn through the meter when charging and then there is, say, a 9% loss into the battery. If that is the case then OVO will only see what is exported affter the 9% loss back out through the meter to the grid (a total loss of about18%). So what you gain on the import is lost on the export. That really is a total guess at this point and further thought might reveal an error. That is based on OVO controlling the charge point.

Peter

Back again to this forum after a long gap. I have a V2G pilot (Indra) charger and would like to use it to charge my Nissan Leaf (a replacement for my earlier CCS EV).

Can someone share the steps and contacts I need to use V2G for charging only?

Sorry OVO team, I am now with Octupus :)

Welcome back ​@sylm_2000 - you’re always welcome here no matter who you get your energy supply from! That’s the approach we take to all users - it’s open for all to join and participate in👍

We’re all about the community here, and if you can share anything that supports others - it’s all good as far as we’re concered.

I’ve no doubt someone will be along to support you from this thread - ​@Peter E One for you perhaps?

Hi ​@sylm_2000

Welcome back. We like a challenge! I'm with the pink, multi-legged one as well. Let me have a bit of a dig and I'll see what I can find for you. 

Peter 

The fount of near infinite wisdom (not me, I'm just the messenger) has said this. 

So, in order, have a look at at the Indra website and see what they say on there.

Then there is the question of what tariff you want to be on with Octopus. As an example, I have an EV (have done for nearly five years now) and I'm on Agile which is good overnight in the winter and afternoons in the summer. Just avoid the 4-7 peak. There is IOG and Intelligent Octopus with different prices and rules. More complicated/restrictive than Agile (I just use the car's timers) but have their benefits.

Have a look at that to start with and we'll see what questions you have after that. Happy to expand on this anytime you want to. Sometimes I can be absent for a few days but I'll get back to you.

Peter

​@Peter E - thank you for reminding me of how active and supportive this community is. 

Very helpful. I have EV, solar panels, an ASHP, a defunct V2G charger, smart energy controls and am planning to get a Tesla PW3 installed in a couple of weeks. This makes quite an interesting case of tariff selection and export generation. Currently using a Rolec charger for the EV.

Will report when I have the configuration up and running.

Hey ​@sylm_2000,

Welcome back to the community. 🎉 We’re happy to have you with us, and I’m excited to share that Peter is our Member of the Month for May, so you're definitely in good hands for support! 😃

Your installation journey is going to be such an exciting adventure. If you’d like, we’d love for you to document your experience. We've had some amazing articles from members in the past, and I’ll share those links below for you to check out whenever you have a moment. 

It would be fantastic to see you get involved and share your new PW3 with us. We would love to hear about your thought process from making the decision through to the completion. Let us know if that sounds good to you.

Thanks Chris and appreciate the welcome.

I will provide an update albeit not as eloborate. Good to be back and exchange ideas with this community.

I have ordered 27kwh storage combined with gateway to ensure backup in case of mains disruption and some sort of contiuity with solar EV panels connected to the Tesla hybrid inverter.  

The fount of near infinite wisdom (not me, I'm just the messenger) has said this. 

 

 

So, in order, have a look at at the Indra website and see what they say on there.

 

Then there is the question of what tariff you want to be on with Octopus. As an example, I have an EV (have done for nearly five years now) and I'm on Agile which is good overnight in the winter and afternoons in the summer. Just avoid the 4-7 peak. There is IOG and Intelligent Octopus with different prices and rules. More complicated/restrictive than Agile (I just use the car's timers) but have their benefits.

 

Have a look at that to start with and we'll see what questions you have after that. Happy to expand on this anytime you want to. Sometimes I can be absent for a few days but I'll get back to you.

 

Peter

​

Hi - I used the Indra charger yesterday on the CHAdeMo port, which worked until the cable got stuck in the morning. No jiggle, push or pull will work. I tried the on/off button; nothing. I did the emergency stop again, no luck.

Finally, Google search to the rescue. I inserted the power cable into the adjacent port, which released the cable. Phew! Not pleased, and NOT a great start to using the charger again.

Won’t be using it again till I am confident the release works safely. 

Can you confirm which end was stuck? I use a tethered cable but others use the cable that comes with the car so if could be either end with that.

Peter 

I use a tethered cable which came with the charger, the end that’s connected to the car. Nissan Leaf has two charging ports.

I'm assuming that is not the usual behaviour. On my Zoe the car would not release the cable if it's charging and still won't release it until I tell it to let go because the last bit is a security measure. It has never failed to release the cable when required. It seems to be a known issue for a Leaf so have a look at this.

https://www.speakev.com/threads/charging-cable-stuck-in-the-car.164672/

Peter