Solar PV customers to earn cash and power home using electric car batteries in new trial
- EDF is trialling a new offer that enables customers with solar panels to use spare capacity in their electric vehicle batteries to save cash and carbon
- Using bi-directional charging technology from Indra Renewables, customers with existing solar panels will be able to harness their EVs as home batteries – charging when prices are low or when they have excess solar electricity and selling power back to the grid at the best times
- Customers will also be able to harness cheaper electricity stored in their electric vehicle to power their home
EDF has launched a new trial looking into how bi-directional charging technology can be optimised to allow customers with solar panels to use the spare capacity in their electric vehicle (EV) batteries to power their homes and earn extra cash.
Trialists will utilise EDF’s existing Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff and use Indra Renewables bi-directional chargers to integrate their EV battery and solar panels, enabling them to sell any surplus power from their car batteries to the grid at the best times, potentially earning drivers an average of £650 a year compared to a smart charging baseline based on research carried out by EDF.
For the trial, Loughborough University and the University of Sheffield will carry out qualitative and quantitative studies with the customers, providing vital insight into the export tariff’s feasibility for optimising customers EV charging to ensure it is aligned with low carbon generation and at the lowest cost to the customer.
EDF will be collecting data throughout the trial, which has just begun and ends in February 2025, providing customers with insights into their charging behaviour, helping to reinforce smart charging habits that will save cash for the customers and avoid charging at carbon intensive times.
This trial is one of five that has been created and developed as part of a wider project by EDF’s Research and Development and Customer teams and is part of the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero’s Alternative Energy Markets Innovation Programme. It is backed by £1.3m of funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP). *
Patrick Dupeyrat, Director of Research and Development at EDF, said: “Our mission at EDF is to help Britain to achieve net zero, and we will only succeed by empowering our customers and giving them the flexibility to manage their energy at home, saving them cash and carbon.
“This trial is exactly the type of innovation the industry should be striving for, delivering exciting new ways to reduce pressure on the grid and customers’ pockets and getting people across Britain engaged in their net zero journey.”
This trial follows the launch by EDF of EVolve tariff, one of the cheapest EV tariffs on the market for drivers with any EV or charger, saving customers £200 a year whilst promising that they will never pay more than the Ofgem price cap.
About EDF
EDF is driving the transition towards An Electric Britain – a secure, affordable, low-carbon future for everyone. As Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity, we are investing more than £100 million weekly in Britain’s electricity infrastructure. We supply millions of customers with electricity and help homes and businesses switch to electricity for heating, transport and industrial processes.
We operate five nuclear power stations and more than 35 onshore wind farms and three offshore wind farms. Since 2009, EDF has invested almost £9 billion in the nuclear fleet to improve reliability and extend station lifetimes. The five generating stations currently supply about 12% of the UK’s electricity demand.
EDF is building the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. We are a minority investor (12.5%) in and major supplier to a replica plant at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes. EDF Group companies Framatome and Arabelle Solutions have a presence in the UK and manufacture critical equipment such as reactor pressure vessels and turbines.
EDF is enabling its 5 million customers, both in business and at home, to choose electric solutions that save cash and carbon, whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing solar panels or a heat pump. In 2025, EDF’s Customers business was ranked as one of the Sunday Times’s Best Place to Work.
It is also one of the UK’s leading developers of renewable energy through EDF power solutions UK and Ireland. We have more than 2GW of renewable generation in operation and over 10GW in construction, planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage.
We are one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, is one of the UK and Ireland’s largest technical service providers.
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