Drive for free with vehicle to grid

Smart charging is an umbrella term that defines all technologies that can control when and how quickly vehicles charge their batteries or discharge their energy back to the private or public network they’re connected to.

Vehicle to grid (V2G) charging technology allows participating customers to save or earn money by allowing their EV batteries to store energy and discharge it back to the national grid or their own buildings when it’s most needed – for instance at peak demand during the day when usage and costs across the UK are at their highest. This way vehicle to grid also increases the positive impact electric vehicles already have in reducing carbon emissions, by supporting the introduction of renewable energy sources to the grid.

The main idea behind vehicle to grid is to take advantage of electric vehicle batteries when they are not used for driving, by charging and/or discharging them at appropriate times. For example, EVs can be charged to store excess renewable energy production and discharged to feed energy back into the grid during consumption peaks. This not only supports the introduction of renewable energies to the grid, but also prevent the use of fossil fuels thanks to an improved management of the grid.

Therefore V2G is a win for the user (thanks to V2G monthly revenues) and the environment.

Our vehicle to grid offer is currently only available to business customers. We are considering providing vehicle to grid to our residential customers in the future, so please stay in touch. We are currently providing smart chargers to our domestic customers, which link up to an app to allow easy scheduling of charging, tracking of usage and remote stop/start of charging. For more information visit https://www.edfenergy.com/electric-cars/home-charger or email us at goelectric@edfenergy.com.

Currently our vehicle to grid offer only works with the Nissan Leaf and the Nissan e-NV200. If you don't have one of these vehicles, we will be happy to help you lease or purchase them.

Our offer is currently for EDF customers only. If you want to switch to EDF please contact us.

The potential degradation of the battery is indeed an important topic because the battery represents an important part of the vehicle's cost and contributes to the vehicle's performance (range, acceleration). It is interesting to note that the ageing of lithium-ion batteries is a complex phenomenon, which depends on many criteria, and that this subject is still studied by multiple stakeholders in order to better understand the underlying mechanisms.

Consequently, EDF approaches the subject with seriousness and pragmatism:

• EDF works closely with car and battery manufacturers to ensure their recommendations are met
• EDF Group's Research & Development department has a strong expertise in the field with a team of more than 20 researchers specialised in the subject.

Every month you will receive vehicle to grid revenues directly on your EDF electricity bill.

Solar panels do not affect directly V2G performance. However, depending on customer's site and consumption, solar energy might already cover all the energy needs of the customer. As our vehicle to grid offer works "behind the meter", this means that customers get value from V2G by reducing their energy consumption when the vehicle's battery is discharged into the customer's building. If solar energy is already covering customer's energy need, then vehicle to grid would have less value.

Our main concern is for your mobility needs to be satisfied at all circumstances.

EDF will therefore ask you for information on your usage in order to ensure that your electric vehicles are charged at the right time. At any time, you can plan a trip via our mobile application. In the event of an unforeseen event, you can even regain control and force the charge of your vehicles.