Vehicle to Grid (V2G) in Australia
What V2G is, where the Australian trials and programs are up to, the approved chargers, and what you need to take part.
Vehicle to Grid, or V2G, goes further than V2L. Instead of just powering appliances, your EV battery can send energy back into your home or the grid. It needs a purpose-built bidirectional charger, approval from your electricity network, a compatible car, and software that decides when to charge and discharge based on price and demand. The payoff is real: a parked EV becomes a large home battery on wheels. Australia is one of the most active countries for V2G trials, and South Australia Power Networks became the first distributor to allow non-trial connections.
Australian pilots and programs
Amber Electric runs the largest residential V2G trial, backed by ARENA funding and scaling toward 1,000 households with BYD vehicles and StarCharge hardware. AGL is running a 100-home trial across several states, and Origin has launched a V2G subscription trial. On earnings, be realistic: in one quiet month the Amber trial fleet recovered roughly 17 dollars per vehicle on average, with most value coming from powering the home rather than grid export, while a single participant reportedly earned about 500 dollars in one afternoon during a January heatwave. Amber projects around 2,500 dollars a year combining smart charging and export, which is a forward estimate, not a guarantee. Source: EV Infrastructure News.
Approved bidirectional chargers
A small number of bidirectional chargers are listed for Australian connection, including the Australian-developed V2Grid NUMBAT (the only one supporting both CCS2 and CHAdeMO), the Sigenergy SigenStor, and the StarCharge Halo. Hardware is still expensive, commonly several thousand to over ten thousand dollars before installation, so the financial case is strongest where you can pair it with the right tariff. We will add these to the Find and Compare directory once we have verified product images for each.
V2L, V2H and V2G: the difference
V2L powers appliances through the car's own inverter and needs only an adapter. V2H powers your whole home through a bidirectional charger but does not touch the grid. V2G adds grid export on top, which needs a retailer or aggregator and a tariff that pays for it. In practice most Australian trials run V2H and V2G together, and today V2H delivers most of the value.
What you need to get set up
- A car that supports bidirectional charging (several BYD, Hyundai and Kia models are in trials, plus older CHAdeMO cars for the NUMBAT).
- An approved bidirectional charger and a licensed electrician to install it.
- Approval from your distribution network. South Australia is furthest ahead; other networks are catching up.
- A retailer or aggregator (such as Amber) to manage charging and export against live prices.
Availability and rules are moving fast in 2026, so confirm the current position with your network and retailer before committing.