Vehicle to Home (V2H): Using Your EV as a Home Battery in the UK

TL;DR:

• Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) lets your EV’s battery power your home during high-rate periods or power cuts
• Compatible cars in the UK in 2026 include the Nissan Leaf (older CHAdeMO), Nissan Ariya, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and the BYD Seal — with more arriving by end of year
• A dedicated home battery (e.g. Powerwall 3) is simpler and warrants less concern about EV battery degradation, but V2H can make economic sense if you already have a compatible car

Most people know their EV has a big battery — typically 60–100 kWh, compared to a home battery’s 10–15 kWh. What fewer people realise is that some EVs can send that energy back into your home, not just charge from it. This is Vehicle-to-Home (V2H), and it’s quietly becoming more practical as more bidirectional-capable cars arrive in the UK.

This guide explains how V2H actually works, which cars support it in 2026, what a UK installation costs, and whether it makes financial sense compared to a dedicated home battery.

How V2H Differs from V2G

It’s worth clarifying the terminology first, because V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) and V2H (Vehicle-to-Home) are often used interchangeably but are technically different.

V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) sends energy from your car back to the public electricity grid. Your car essentially acts as a flexible generation asset, and network operators or aggregators pay you for providing that flexibility. Octopus Energy and Ovo Energy have both run V2G trials in the UK.

V2H (Vehicle-to-Home) sends energy from your car to your own home’s electrical circuits only. You’re not interacting with the grid — you’re just shifting when you use the energy you already put into your car. This is simpler to set up, doesn’t require a smart meter or aggregator relationship, and is the technology more relevant for most homeowners.

Some systems, particularly those using the newer CCS standard, support both V2H and V2G from the same hardware. Others, notably the older CHAdeMO standard used by the original Nissan Leaf, support bidirectional power flow but only in V2H mode.

Which Cars Support V2H in the UK in 2026?

The V2H landscape in the UK has expanded considerably in 2025–2026. Compatible vehicles include:

CHAdeMO-based (older protocol):

• Nissan Leaf (2013–2023, 24–62 kWh) — the most widely deployed V2H-capable car in the UK
• Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV — bidirectional capability to power appliances via a dedicated port

CCS/ISO 15118-20 bidirectional:

• Nissan Ariya — launched bidirectional CCS charging in the UK in late 2025
• BYD Seal and BYD Atto 3 — both support V2H via a compatible bidirectional charger
• Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV6 (V2L versions) — these support Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), which powers appliances via an external socket rather than your home’s circuits, a simpler but less integrated option
• Toyota bZ4X — bidirectional CCS support confirmed for 2026

Coming in 2026/2027: Most major manufacturers have announced bidirectional capability for upcoming models. Volkswagen’s ID. range, BMW’s iX, and several Stellantis (Jeep, Peugeot, Citroën) EVs have all committed to bidirectional charging support.

The Charger: The Critical Hardware Piece

An EV’s bidirectional capability is meaningless without a compatible charger that can handle power flowing in both directions. Standard home chargers (including most 7kW wallboxes) are one-directional.

For V2H, you need a dedicated bidirectional charger. Options in the UK in 2026 include:

Nissan CHAdeMO systems:

• Wallbox Quasar 2 — the most established home V2H charger for CHAdeMO vehicles, £3,000–£4,000 installed. Provides up to 7.4kW discharge.
• Indra Smart PRO — UK-made, CHAdeMO compatible, around £2,500–£3,500 installed.

CCS systems:

• Wallbox Quasar 3 — supports CCS bidirectional charging, compatible with Ariya, BYD Seal, and other CCS V2H cars. Released 2025, approximately £3,500–£4,500 installed.
• Myenergi Zappi V2H — Myenergi has CCS bidirectional support in development, expected mid-2026.

Installed costs vary significantly by installer and property, but budget £2,500–£5,000 for the charger unit and installation, before any solar integration work.

The Economics: Does V2H Make Sense?

The basic use case: peak-shifting

On a time-of-use tariff like Octopus Agile or Intelligent Octopus Go, electricity is cheap overnight (sometimes negative cost) and expensive during morning and evening peaks. With V2H:

1. Charge your EV overnight at cheap-rate electricity (3–8p/kWh)
2. Discharge during the peak period (25–35p/kWh on Agile)
3. Save 20–30p per kWh discharged

If you discharge 20 kWh per day during peak periods, that’s £4–£6/day in savings, or £1,500–£2,200/year. Against a charger cost of £3,000–£4,500, payback is 2–3 years — better than most home battery investments.

The catch: you need a compatible car, you need to be home during peak periods, and your car needs to be plugged in and not needed for a trip at peak time.

Combined with solar

V2H works very well alongside rooftop solar. Your solar panels charge the car during the day, and you discharge from the car in the evening — effectively using your EV’s larger battery as free storage for your solar generation. This eliminates the need for a separate home battery entirely for many households.

A typical UK 4kW solar system generates 8–12 kWh per day in summer. A 60kWh EV can absorb most of that and return it in the evening — far more capacity than a 10kWh home battery.

EV battery degradation: the concern

The main argument against V2H is that cycling your EV battery for home energy shortens its life. This concern is real but often overstated.

Modern lithium-ion batteries in EVs are designed for hundreds of thousands of charge cycles. The manufacturers who have enabled V2H (Nissan, BYD, Hyundai) have done so after their own testing confirmed that typical home cycling rates don’t significantly accelerate degradation beyond normal driving use.

The practical rule of thumb: if you’re cycling your EV battery more than once per day or routinely discharging to below 20%, degradation risk increases. For typical home use — charging overnight, partial discharge during peaks — the impact is minimal.

Some manufacturers have been cautious about warranty implications of V2H use. Check your car’s warranty documentation before enabling V2H. BYD and Nissan explicitly support V2H without voiding the battery warranty on their current models.

V2H vs Dedicated Home Battery: Which to Choose?

If you already have a V2H-compatible EV and use time-of-use tariffs, adding a bidirectional charger is often the most cost-effective way to gain home battery functionality. The capacity advantage is enormous.

If you don’t have a compatible car, or if you frequently need your car away from home during peak periods, a dedicated home battery is the more reliable choice.

Getting a V2H System Installed in the UK

Look for an installer registered with OZEV (the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles) and, ideally, with experience specifically in bidirectional charging. V2H installers are still a specialist group — not every EV charger installer handles bidirectional systems.

Ask the installer about:

• DNO notification (you may need to notify your Distribution Network Operator for systems above 3.68kW)
• Protection relay requirements (some V2H systems include these; others require separate installation)
• Integration with your solar inverter or home energy management system

V2H isn’t quite plug-and-play yet — but it’s becoming considerably more practical, and the economics for compatible car owners are genuinely attractive.