- The Polestar 3 is getting bidirectional charging in the U.S.
- The American-made EV can export power from its battery to keep the lights on inside the owner’s house.
- The functionality, known as vehicle-to-home (V2H), is rolling out in California first, with more states to follow.
Electric cars have many advantages over their gas-powered counterparts, but one of the biggest upsides of owning an EV is the ability to use the energy from the huge high-voltage battery to keep the lights on during an outage.
Not all EVs come with this feature, which is called vehicle-to-home (V2H), but more and more automakers are jumping on the bandwagon. Polestar is the latest to join the list, with the American-made Polestar 3 electric SUV getting bidirectional charging in the United States.
Update: After this story went live, Polestar's corporate cousin Volvo announced that the mechanically related Volvo EX90 will also soon be capable of bi-directional charging. We've added more details.
Owners who live in California will be the first to be able to power their homes from their Polestar and Volvo EVs, thanks to a collaboration between the automaker and home energy company dcbel. More states will follow, according to Polestar, but right now, California residents can order dcbel’s Ara home energy system to get the most out of their EVs.
The system uses direct current (DC) that comes straight from the EV’s battery, which is then converted into alternating current (AC) for home use. Per Polestar, the V2H hardware kit enables customers to use their cars as energy backup sources during blackouts that last up to 10 days, courtesy of the Polestar 3’s 111-kilowatt-hour battery pack.
“Bi-directional charging is a game-changer, not only for the car industry, but for the home energy ecosystem,” said Michael Lohscheller, Polestar CEO. “As it lowers your total cost of ownership and makes your car work for you even when parked, this makes the choice of driving a Polestar even more attractive.”
In the future, the Polestar 3 could also feed power from its battery back into the grid by using a technology called vehicle-to-grid (V2G), but there’s no word on when that might happen.
“We continue to enhance the benefits of ownership of our flagship EX90 by enabling it to send power back to the home through bi-directional charging,” said Jim Nichols, Head of Product & Technology Consumer Offer for Volvo Cars in the Americas. “By working with dcbel, we’re taking an important next step in our electrification and smart home energy strategy journey to offer smarter home energy options and added peace of mind.”
Interestingly, the first-generation Nissan Leaf could export power from its high-voltage battery through its CHAdeMO charge port, but the hardware that enabled power export was extremely limited. Now, as technology has progressed and EV owners’ needs have diversified, more automakers are adding bi-directional charging abilities to their battery-powered models. Ford, General Motors, Hyundai and, more recently, Tesla give EV owners the tools needed to use their cars to their full potential.
