#V2Gnow - Bi-directional charging news roundup

+ V2H for Ukraine, e-mobility hot jobs and meme of the week

AuthorAuthor

Janek Metzner & Julius Wilhelm
July 03, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Happy Monday. This is Electric Avenue. We’re your weekly EV news treat, sweeter than chocolate 🍫. Ferrero Rocher’s ain’t got nothin’ on us.

Here’s what we have for you today:

  • 1 Video 🎥

  • #V2G now - Bi-directional charging news roundup ⚡️

  • 3 Links 🔗

  • E-mobility Hot Jobs 🌶️

  • Meme of the week 🤡

Let's get into it!

1 Video 🎥

We’ve written a lot about the use cases and benefits of bi-directional charging over the past months (check out The Surprising Truth About Bidirectional Charging in Today’s EVs 🚗). This week we have a great example for V2H/Emergency backup power: 

Kaluza Energy’s Russel Vare and EPIC Charging’s Michael Bakunin worked together to sponsor a ChaDeMo V2L device and ship it to Ukraine. There are a surprising amount of used Nissan Leaf EVs in operation across the Ukraine, which can serve as the perfect backup power devices. Russel and Michael also launched a fundraiser to sponsor more of these devices for Ukranians.

#V2Gnow - Bi-directional charging news roundup ⚡️

Over the past weeks we’ve had a lot of interesting news on bi-directional charging/V2X/V2G.

We’ve collected the most important stories so you can catch up:

Mobilize / Renault R5 EV - AC V2G

  • Renault AC V2G: The Renault 5 EV will get a bi-directional onboard charger for AC V2G! Mobilize, Renault’s charging&energy unit made the big announcement. The V2G service is set to launch 2024 in Germany and France, as well as 2025 in the UK. A few components will need to be integrated to make this possible:

    • 1) The Renault R5 EV and it’s bi-directional onboard charger (7-22kW power output, made by Renault and/or a Tier 1 automotive supplier)

    • 2) the Mobilize Powerbox, a bidirectional AC charging station designed in collaboration with teams from Software République (Orange, Renault Group, STMicroelectronics, and Thales) along with their technology partner IoTecha.

    • 3) a Mobilize electricity contract, provided by technology partner The Mobility House, which guarantees carbon-neutral electricity and serves to monetize energy injected back into the grid through automated bidirectional charging management.

    • 4) a smartphone app used to program bidirectional charging, simply by setting the time when the vehicle is going to be used next and the desired battery level. It goes without saying that the need for mobility will always remain a priority.

    Takeaway: Renault is betting big on AC bi-directional charging. We’re excited to learn more about the total system cost for the R5 and the Powerbox and how it compares to DC bi-directional systems from other automakers.

    GM Energy Ultium Home Charging Bundle

  • GM Energy V2H: General Motors’ Charging & Energy unit is called “GM Energy”. They just launched their Ultium Home Charging offering which will consist of 3 different bundles:

    • Ultium Home V2H Bundle

      • GM PowerShift Charger

        • Up to 19.2 kW charge speeds (AC)

        • Enables vehicle-to-home (V2H) bi-directional charging with a compatible GM EV and V2H Enablement Kit (see below)

      • V2H Enablement Kit

        • Inverter, home hub, and dark start battery

        • 9.6 kW of discharge power

        • Safely disconnects the home from the grid

    • Ultium Home Energy System

      • GM PowerShift Charger (see details above)

      • V2H Enablement Kit (details above)

      • GM PowerBank

        • Ultium Home’s stationary storage unit

        • Connects to V2H Enablement Kit to extend backup capability and store solar or grid energy

        • Available in 10.6 kWh (5 kW) and 17.7 kWh (7 kW) variants

    • Ultium Home Energy Storage Bundle

      • GM PowerBank

      • Inverter and home hub

    Takeaway: While details on the whole system are still sparse, this looks very similar to Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power system.

    Main difference: With the GM PowerBank the company also has a stand-alone product which customers can purchase even if they don’t have a compatible electric car yet - see Tesla’s Powerwall.

  • Chevy Silverado EV w/ V2L, V2V and V2H: While the GM Energy offering followed mostly a “me too”-theme (compare Ford/Tesla..), the launch of the Chevrolet Silverado EV is promising to bring us a few more innovative features:

    • V2L (vehicle-to-load) charging from the truck bed: up to 7.2kW with 15A and 30A outlets.

    • V2L from the truck’s chargeport with a V2L power adapter: up to 3kW addtl.

    • V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle charging) from the truck’s chargeport to another vehicle at up to 6kW.

    • And lastly V2H (vehicle-to-home / emergency backup power) at greater than 6kW (to be announced) via the Ultium Home V2H bundle.

    Takeaway: The Silverado EV is supposed to be an absolute feature-packed bi-directional EV workhorse.

3 Links 🔗

  • Cashback for charging: How do you know driving an EV is becoming mainstream? A big indicator is a major U.S. bank like Chase adding “EV charging” to it’s quarterly 5% cashback categories! (Link)

  • E.ON x elvah: elvah was a small, but ambitous eMSP startup in Germany. After the company had to declare bankruptcy it’s assets and team now found a new home at German utility and charging network operator E.On.

  • Wunderbox = wunderbar: Lucid Motors has long promoted it’s powertrain technology to other electric vehicle manufacturers. Thus far, it’s only customer has been the Formula E racing series. Now Lucid can count the prestigious Aston Martin brand as a customer for it’s Wunderbox and other tech.

E-mobility Hot Jobs 🌶️

By now y’all are used to our monthly EV startup funding roundup - Money Monday 🤑 - but this week we’re doing something special. We’ve gathered the hottest EV, charging & energy jobs we could find. These can be at corporates or startups, but they all have one thing in common: they’re so🔥that we’re almost tempted to apply ourselves…

Here ya go:

Take-away: The e-mobility job market is hot and talent is tight. Experience in V2X/V2G will become highly valuable as the next frontier for EV charging products&services.

P.S. - Are you trying to hire in E-mobility? If you wanna get your hot job🌶️ in front of >1,000+ EV experts -> Send us a note to [email protected]!

Meme of the Week 🤡

That's a wrap for this week! Let us know how you feel:

What do you think of today´s edition?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Reader Review of the Week

Selected ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Freakin´ awesome on⚡NACS on the rise 🌅 and wrote:

"Your newsletter is like a hot pancake to me! I love it!"

Someone forwarded this to you? Subscribe now - it's free!

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.

Join the conversation

or to participate.