Check out the latest on OVO's Vehicle to Grid trial here

I've now been on the V2G trial for just over a month, and thought I'd let people know how it's all going. Before commencing the trial I was required to downgrade my smart meter from a SMETS2 to a SMETS1 and switch from Eco7. This has resulted in a delay in the new meter sending meter readings to OVO and therefore I've not had a bill for over two months, but I've been recording manual readings from the smart meter daily to keep tabs on what it's using and exporting, so should give a good indication of what I expect to be billed.

To help give an indication of usage, we are a family of 4 (4 bed house), with an EV that is used for 5 days out of 7 (roughly 750 miles a month), and an ICE car that is used less often. Based on about 30 days of readings, we are averaging a daily electricity usage of 27KWh and exporting 16Kwh. We normally get a top up charge from the supermarket or car park once or twice a week so the car is not always being topped up by the house overnight. Based on these calculations I estimate that my monthly electricity bill will be a net £25 a month, which is roughly what my electricity was prior to having an EV, so it looks like the V2G is paying for free mileage in my EV and maybe a little more.

We've had a few teething problems with the charger crashing, but these are easily reset by just doing a hard reset on the unit (shutting down and rebooting). The app has played up a few times also.

One thing we have discovered is that if you don't need a 100% battery charge at 7am every morning, it's worth changing the schedule in the app to not set a time the car is needed by. This then allows the V2G unit to export a little back to the grid for an hour or so in the morning (6am-7am), the unit then starts exporting about 4pm to midnight. When it's not exporting to the grid any electricity you use in the house is coming from the grid and not the car battery which I didn't realise before the trial, but seeing as the unit has to convert from DC to AC I can now see why this would not be worthwhile just to power a kettle for 2 minutes.

The unit itself is rather large (much bigger than a Rolec) but has more work to do converting the electricity from DC to AC. It's a bit on eyesore on the front of the house and a tethered cable too. It would be good if future generations of the unit could be designed where the operations of the unit could be fitted nearer the meter box (in our case around the side of the house) and then just a smaller plug type socket where the car is parked.

As mentioned above, due to the meter change I've not yet had a bill or any export credits so await and see on this, but am a bit concerned to hear that the billing is not yet straightforward for people to understand what they have used and exported (just a single line showing export credit amount). This really needs resolving with billing accurately reflecting the meter readings of amount used and amount exported, so people can verify with their own readings from the smart meter. If this can't be incorporated on the paper bill at this moment, then perhaps we can receive an email to show how the export credits are calculated each month.

Overall, I am currently happy with being on the trial, and hope that other vehicle makes can be included in the trial soon, as it appears a bit limited to just Nissan Leafs.

A couple of days ago I told you I was going to have the new Nissan LEAF 62 kW demonstrator for 2 days and that I would let you know what it was like on the charger.....well....erm....change of plan.

I picked the car up in Edinburgh and left about 10am. Let me tell you it's a complete game changer. No need to stop on the way to charge, no need to use the economy mode, no need to draught or watch the battery temperature, just unleash the horses and arrive in Hartlepool, 137 miles later with a big grin on my face and 23% left in the enormous battery....that's about 15 kWs...ish.

So, the one thing you have to remember is this is a bigger battery....and not just by 50%. Yes it's gone from 40 kWs to 62 kWs....but that extra 22 kWs is all useable compared with about 35 kWs in a 40 kW battery.....and when you use it you then have to replace it and there lies the problem. That's another 3 1/2 hours on a 6 kW charger to top it up...extra to how long it takes you to do the same with a 40 kW LEAF and so all my time was spent topping up the battery with nothing discharged at all....and though Kaluza say I imported 40.6 kW on 4th, OVO say I imported 68.5 kW....and most of that day was spent in Edinburgh. The sooner OVO and Kaluza talk to each other the better...

With regards to using V2G It depends on the way you use your car, remembering the lowest you can go on the battery is 25%. On the 40 kW battery 25% of the useable capacity is about 27 kWs but on the new leaf that's almost 43 kWs. So, if you arrive home empty then you'll spend most of your time charging and you may find you'll be exporting less to the grid than with the 40 kW car.....however if you're like me, Billy No Mates who doesn't go out in daylight for weeks on end and the car is stuck in the garage all the time then the car will be importing and exporting most of the day....2/3rds to export and 1/3rd to import, that's a potential 43 kWs per day at 30p per kW...or £12.90 a day....minus how much you pay for the juice in the first place.

So....if you're on the Trial and you're getting the new 62 kW LEAF then I'd take off your shoes and socks as well as your gloves and you'll need to work out if your gonna make money or lose it. Personally I came into the trial on the full understanding I was going to be out of pocket but wanted to be involved so everything else is a bonus....now all I have to do is wait another 3 months till my new car is delivered...then I can give you all a proper evaluation...unless someone else beats me to it....oh and if you are interested in getting one here's an update from yesterday. When I placed my order in July Nissan were giving £500 towards the purchase. They have now upped that to £750...plus the anticipated residual value of the new car has also increased.....looks as though EVs are increasing in value over the years whilst ICE cars are decreasing....

And if anyone wants to know my impression of the new car, drop me a line and I'll reproduce what I posted on Facebook...

Because of a few failures of my first V2G charger, 9 in total, I had a new one fitted last week and has been running OK right up till 4.10 this morning when it cut out. Bit of a bummer as for the first time in ages I had a trip out booked but now have to shelve it due to less than 50% of charge. Such is life and you have to expect a problem or two. In future if I'm desperate for the car the next day I'll use the back up 7 kW charger...

One thing I did notice was there was a sharp drop of 0.5 GW on the national grid when a Gas Powered station dropped out about the same time. It may be a coincidence but wonder if anyone else has noticed spikes around the time their unit fails? The reference I'm using is below...


https://gridwatch.co.uk

Leo

@Transparent, when they replaced the unit I don't think they replaced any fuses. They didn't come into the house and there's nothing new in the garage Fusebox....having said that, the unit works off the house box not the garage. Don't know if there's anything in the new unit itself...as for the comment, I've had no feedback on it but don't expect anything. It was just a suggestion and observation..

Leo

@Transparent @Leo Moran here's some detail from the team, around your questions and comments regarding protection against power surges etc.

The current that goes through the V2G charger is monitored every 100m/s. Any changes to this current that are out of the ordinary, trigger contactors inside the unit to open preventing any additional current (from a surge for example) flowing through. Worth noting, there's a 20 amp fuse inside the charger too linked to the DC side, as an additional measure.

Typo? @Transparent, what typo?

Hi all. I’m brand new to the forum today.

I’m a new OVO customer who is waiting for the V2G charger being installed (so far the process has been very slow and I’ve got 5 more weeks to wait).

I want to hear about your V2G experiences thus far? Good/Bad

I’m excited to be joining this trial even though it may not even be much of a financial gain for me as I’ve have to take a more expensive tarrif of 17p/Kw at OVO but I’m hoping it works out when I start exporting [fingers crossed]. Love the idea of diminishing the myth that too many EVs will crash the national grid!

Thanks.

Hi @pixelpefekt - glad you could join us!

As you suggest, too many EVs are unlikely to “crash the grid”. However, charging them at home will cause increased losses at the electricity substations. And unless/until EV owners embrace Time-Of-Use (TOU) tariffs, and technology like the Kaluza Platform, then we will also face significant overheating of underground 440v feeds.

The cable sizes for underground feeds to domestic properties have historically been amazing small. Not only do we rely on diversification (not everyone having electrically-heated showers simultaneously!) but the quiet hours between midnight and 7am have been factored-in to permit cables to cool down again. Overnight charging will no longer allow for that.

As yet there are far too few EV chargers in a geographical area to obtain data on these two issues.

However, there’s a whole lot more to think about than just the functionality of the chargers themselves.

Tell us a bit more about your background and don’t forget to fill in your Forum Profile. Thanks.

Hey @Leo Moran great news on the new Leaf, how exciting!!  

 

You can but ask… I’ve posted your comments to the team, so will see what they say!  

Do you want to see how much the V2G trialists are importing and exporting? Check out the latest here!