Smart Energy Council Premium Member Amber Electric has shared its latest vehicle-to-everything (V2X) fleet results, providing a snapshot of how electric vehicles are already being used to power homes and export electricity to the grid.

July saw Amber’s V2X fleet grow to 54 connected chargers, with vehicles discharging 6,919 kWh from their batteries and generating $1,888 in value across the month.

Most of that value came from vehicle-to-home (V2H), where stored EV energy was used to power households instead of drawing electricity from the grid. The remainder came from vehicle-to-grid (V2G), with electricity exported from EV batteries back to the grid at wholesale prices.

July by the numbers

Across Amber’s 54 connected chargers:

• 16,739 kWh was charged into vehicles, including 10,474 kWh from the grid and 6,265 kWh from home solar and batteries.
• 6,919 kWh was discharged from vehicles.
• 4,724 kWh powered homes through V2H.
• 2,195 kWh was exported to the grid through V2G.
• $1,888 in value was generated through V2H and V2G.

Of the total value generated, $1,457 came from avoided grid electricity purchases through V2H, based on an avoided import cost of 30.8 c/kWh, while $430 was earned from V2G exports at an average export value of 19.6 c/kWh.

V2H delivers most of the value

Amber’s July results show that V2H accounted for 68 per cent of discharged energy but 77 per cent of the total value generated.

The difference reflects the value of using stored EV energy to replace electricity that would otherwise be purchased from the grid at retail prices, compared with exporting electricity through V2G at wholesale prices.

Across the 54 connected sites, the average household benefited by around $35 during July from vehicle-based energy flows alone. Around $27 of this came through V2H and $8 through V2G.

Amber also found that vehicle availability plays an important role in the value households can capture. Vehicles connected for much of the day and during the evening peak were able to make greater use of V2X, particularly in households where cars are used for shorter trips and spend more time connected at home.

Sites with high vehicle availability generated more than $200 in value during the month.

Capturing wholesale market events

While V2H generated most of the fleet’s overall value, July also demonstrated the potential for V2G to respond to periods of higher wholesale electricity prices.

Wholesale prices spiked on the evening of 30 July, resulting in the fleet’s largest single V2G earning day for the month.

The result provides an example of how connected EVs can respond to changing electricity market conditions, storing energy when it is cheaper or readily available and discharging when electricity is more valuable.

What comes next

Amber expects changing seasonal electricity market conditions to provide further opportunities to test the value of V2X over the coming months.

Spring typically brings periods of low and negative daytime wholesale electricity prices as rooftop solar generation increases, alongside periods of greater volatility when large generators undergo shoulder-season maintenance.

For V2X-enabled households, a wider difference between low and high-price periods can create opportunities to charge vehicles when electricity is abundant and lower-cost, before using or exporting that stored energy when demand and prices increase.

Amber will continue tracking how the balance between V2H and V2G develops as more chargers join its fleet through August and September.

The Smart Energy Council will continue to share updates from members working across V2X, distributed energy and emerging smart energy technologies as these solutions develop across Australia.

Amber Electric is a Premium Member of the Smart Energy Council.

Media Contact

Madieson Ryan I madi.ryan@amber.com.au 

Disclaimer: The above content has been provided by the featured member and is shared for information purposes only. Publication does not imply endorsement by the Smart Energy Council. Any questions regarding the information or claims contained in this communication should be directed to the member organisation.