Vehicle-to-grid technology gets $13.6 million rev up

Melbourne-headquartered energy retailer Amber Electric has been given a $13.6 million (USD 9.7 million) green-light to plug in 950 more households to it’s electric vehicle (EV) vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging trial project.

The additional funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) brings that organisation’s total backing of the project to $16.8 million, allowing participating households with V2G capability to grow from 50 to 1,000.

It will also expand smart charging from 950 to 2,000 households as part of the project, enabling these trial customers to automatically charge EVs when electricity is cheapest and lowest in emissions, an ARENA statement says.

As part of the initial V2G bidirectional trial, chargers are being installed in New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia (SA), with results monitored by Amber to study real-world behaviour around EV use for powering homes (V2H) or sending energy back to the grid (V2G).

Until early May, 2026, 25 vehicles were particpating in the trial fleet, with 8,548.4 kWh charged into the vehicles for the 30 days to 5 May, and 3,694 kWh discharged, either V2H or V2G.

Amber says between 5 April to 5 May, each customer earned $10.55 of value from V2X (vehicle-to-everything), including the benefit of their EV powering their home (74 kWh).

They also got the equivalent of 2,050 km of driving for free (assuming 6 km/kWh).

Arena Chief Executive Officer Darren Miller said the expansion of the trial would address key barriers to V2G deployment in Australia.

“To unlock V2G at scale, we need to bring together customers, car makers, networks and technology providers,” Miller said.

“A big part of that is giving manufacturers the confidence their vehicles will perform as expected, including through validated approaches to battery use and warranties.”

“This project brings those pieces together to demonstrate how EVs can become an active part of the energy system.”

While announcing the funding increase, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said Australians with rooftop solar will be able to use their car to store the energy they’ve generated and use the cheap, clean energy when they need it most.

“And thanks to our Solar Sharer Offer, EV owners who don’t have solar of their own will soon have the option of charging with up to 24 kWh of free electricity each day,” Bowen said.

“With vehicle to grid, they’ll then be able to use that power however they choose – whether that’s selling it back to the grid, powering their homes or driving one of the cheapest-to-run cars on the road.”

Supporting V2G is a focus under the government’s Driving the Nation program.