An electric car can hold a useful amount of energy, but the ability to run a kettle does not establish that it can run your house or export to the grid. V2L, V2H and V2G describe different jobs.
An electric car can hold a useful amount of energy, but the ability to run a kettle does not establish that it can run your house or export to the grid.
V2L, V2H and V2G describe different jobs.
This guide explains the distinction using Australian government and network sources checked on 30 October 2026.
It is a planning guide, not an installation design or a claim that every advertised feature is available at your address.
Vehicle-to-load, or V2L, supplies individual appliances through the vehicle's supported outlet or adapter.
The Australian Government's V2X guide distinguishes this from supplying a home's electrical system.
Check the vehicle manual for the approved adapter, output limit and operating conditions.
Add up the appliances you intend to use and allow for starting loads.
Do not assume a feature on an overseas vehicle applies to the Australian variant.
An appliance outlet on a car is not permission to connect it to a household power point.
Supplying fixed household circuits requires a properly designed installation and qualified electrical advice.
Vehicle-to-home, or V2H, sends energy into the household electrical system through compatible equipment.
Ask separately about supplying the home while the grid is operating and providing backup during an outage.
Those are different design questions.
A proposal should identify which circuits operate in an outage, the available power, the changeover arrangement and any loads that must stay off.
Never assume that a bidirectional label means whole-home backup.
The ARENA-published AGL EV trial report describes isolation and load-transfer requirements for outage operation.
A trial configuration is useful evidence, but not approval for a different vehicle or home.
Our essential-circuit backup guide offers a practical way to list the appliances that matter.
Have the installer check their running and starting demand.
Vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, adds export to the electricity network.
Hardware compatibility, network connection permission and the electricity offer all need to align.
Export capability does not guarantee a profitable payment arrangement.
Western Power's connection guidance requires compliant equipment and written approval through its embedded-generation process.
That is a Western Australian example, not a rulebook for every distributor.
For Victorian properties, Powercor publishes a V2G installation pathway.
Check the requirements of the distributor serving your address and the exact equipment proposed.
Read the retailer or aggregator contract before assigning a value to exports.
Ask about import charges, export payments, fees, control permissions and exit conditions.
A wholesale price headline is not your guaranteed return.
The federal V2X guide advises checking manufacturer confirmation, vehicle and charger compatibility, and the warranty implications of bidirectional use.
Keep the relevant documents with the quote rather than relying on a salesperson's summary.
Request the Australian vehicle model and year, charger model, supported software, network application and written description of the operating modes.
If one part is awaiting approval or release, ask for that dependency to be clearly identified.
The claim to test is specific: this vehicle, this charger and this control arrangement can perform this function at this property.
Approval of one component does not answer every part of that statement.
A home battery normally stays at home.
A car does not.
Write down when the EV is parked, the minimum charge needed for an unexpected trip and who can change the reserve setting.
For illustration, if a 60 kWh battery is at 70% and you retain 40% for driving, the difference is 18 kWh before losses and operating limits.
This arithmetic is not a prediction of usable backup from a particular car.
If the vehicle leaves at 7 am every weekday, an energy plan must accommodate that departure.
A system that earns exports but leaves the car inconveniently low is not a good fit for the household.
Compare those constraints with stationary home battery options and the control terms of a virtual power plant.
Neither option should be judged only by its storage capacity.
Choose the priority first: a camping appliance, selected backup circuits, more use of solar, or grid exports.
Then ask for evidence that the proposed system can do that job now, including its limitations.
Discuss your EV charging plans with Lightning Energy before buying equipment.
A written compatibility and approval check is more useful than treating every two-way charging announcement as a ready-to-install offer.
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