Audi E-Tron could power a home for a week

The company says the increasing adoption of fully-electric passenger cars means they can be used as 'mobile storage energy units', capable of supplying the energy grid when there's increased demand.

Increased demand can often be caused by decreased supply, particularly in parts of Europe where wind and solar contribute electricity to the grid, and are largely dependant on favourable weather conditions.

Called 'bidirectional charging' or 'Vehicle-to-Home' (V2H), the concept allows electric cars to feed stored power back into the grid in circumstances where there is an increased need from alternative sources of energy.

Martin Dehm, technical project manager for bidirectional charging at Audi, says the company is looking at ways to make the technology accessible.

"The battery of an Audi e-tron could supply a single-family home with energy for around one week independently," says Mr Dehm.

The idea of powering a home with the battery pack of an electric vehicle is nothing new, however, with CarAdvice reporting on the technology as early as 2011. Lotus implemented a similar project in May 2020, while Renault began trials in March 2019.

Mr Dehm says their V2H project – being co-developed with German company Hager Group – won't require input from customers once implemented.

"The system is very easy for customers to use – all they have to do is plug in the car, and the rest happens automatically."