What is bidirectional charging, and can your EV do it?

May 30, 2025 by David Motton

Did you know some electric cars can give power back, not just take it? It’s called bidirectional charging – and here’s how it works, plus which cars have it.

The sun is shining, the solar roof is running at full speed, but where should all that excess electricity go? The best place could be the big battery sitting on the drive: your electric car.

This isn’t just a cost-effective way to put range into your EV. The electricity stored there can be fed back into the home to light lamps and power your TV. Or if you don’t need it, the energy could be fed back into the grid. How does this work? Through the magic of bidirectional charging.

So far, this type of charging has not caught on in a big way, but many electric cars are already capable of this party trick. This guide will walk you through what bidirectional charging is, which electric cars can do it, and what technical requirements are needed.

What is bidirectional charging?

Bidirectional charging, also known as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Vehicle-to-Home (V2H), means that energy is exchanged in both directions. Not only can the electric car be charged with electricity, but it can also deliver an electric current. In between, the electric car acts as an energy storage device – think of it as a big battery on wheels.

The first thing you need to understand is that an electric car only runs on direct current (DC), because that’s what the battery is designed for. Therefore, the alternating current (AC) from the power grid must be converted into direct current. If the car is stationary for a while and the power is not consumed, the battery simply stores the electricity.

If you now want to use the electricity from the car’s high-voltage battery for house lighting, for example, the direct current must be converted back into alternating current. This is exactly what the bidirectional charging process is all about, as it’s no problem for appropriately designed chargers to make the switch from AC to DC.

Is bidirectional charging allowed in the UK?

Yes, bidirectional charging is allowed in the UK. In fact, this technology is something the government is keen to encourage.

How can bidirectional charging be used?

There are three ways to use the energy stored in an electric car for other purposes:

Vehicle-to-home (V2H)

This uses the electricity stored in your car to power electrical devices in the home. A converter that produces alternating current from direct current is usually integrated into the wallbox. If you have solar panels which generate the electricity stored in your car battery, then the entire cycle is free of charge and sustainable. It’s good for your bank balance and the planet.

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G)

This method takes the same principles as V2H but on a larger scale. Vehicle-to-grid means integrating as many electric cars as possible into the grid. The energy stored in the EVs is fed back into the general power grid. This makes sense, for example, to counteract power peaks. If you charge your electric car during off-peak hours, you can return the energy at peak times to relieve the power grid. It’s a win-win.

Of course, you can also drive when you need to, but most vehicles are parked a good 90 percent of the time, so it makes sense to use the V2G option. The electric car is thus used as an electricity storage device for the whole community, not just the car’s owner.

Vehicle-to-load (V2L)

As a third option, vehicle-to-load is another type of bidirectional charging. Here, the electric car gives power to other devices; for example, a laptop, smartphone or e-bike. There is a socket in the car where you can plug in the devices and charge them.

Say you’re on a camping trip staying somewhere remote with no electric socket. You could still power lights, cooking equipment, and an electric heater, all from your car.

Which electric cars can charge bidirectionally?

The pioneer for this charging technology is Nissan – the Nissan Leaf has been able to charge bidirectionally as an electric car for several years. In general, it can be said that models from Asian manufacturers are more often suitable for this, because the CHAdeMO connector, which is widely used in the Asian region, was designed for this from the beginning. Only for this connection is there currently a valid protocol for V2G charging in order to feed electricity into the public grid.

The CCS standard, which is widespread in Europe, is yet to master this.

The following models (as of May 2025) can charge bidirectionally:

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What technical requirements do you need?

It’s important that all parameters involved communicate with each other, i.e. that they can understand each other and work together. The following three conditions must be met:

An electric car
Suitable charging infrastructure or wallbox
A uniform language – i.e. software

An electric car is best suited for the purpose of bidirectional charging, plug-in hybrid models can do that too, but the benefits are slight. They only have a small battery that can store only a small amount of electricity.

For this technology to be implemented on a large scale, a suitable charging infrastructure is needed. That means both public charging stations and wallboxes for home use need to support bidirectional charging. These devices must convert alternating current into direct current, produce the correct voltage and have a suitable communication standard.

That brings us to the language. As already mentioned, only the CHAdeMO standard is currently designed for bidirectional charging. CCS is catching up, but still has a lot of catching up to do.

Bidirectional wallbox: What models are there?

In the meantime, there are already some wallboxes that support bidirectional charging. Here is a selection:

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Energy transition and the environment: what can bidirectional charging contribute?

Producing electricity sustainably on a large scale is a major challenge. Especially when it comes to the changing weather, because solar and wind energy are not yet sufficiently available, especially in winter. A large number of electric cars that are integrated into the power grid and serve as buffer storage could have a real effect here.

If the batteries of the electric cars are charged when there’s enough sun or wind available, and this energy is then fed back into the power grid in bad weather or when there is no wind, the share of renewable energies in our power grid would be increased.

That’s the promise of bidirectional charging. Time will tell if it delivers.

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