Did you know that electric vehicles can actually be used to provide power for other uses, as well as just taking it to drive?

In this guide, we explain what bidirectional EV charging is, the benefits of using it, and the different electric cars and home EV chargers that allow it.

Bidirectional EV charging involves using the power in your electric vehicle’s battery for a purpose other than driving.

EV Charging works on a very simple principle: the charger draws electricity from a power supply and delivers it to the battery of your electric vehicle.

Bidirectional Charging enables the opposite to happen, the charger takes electricity from the electric vehicle’s battery to be used elsewhere. This could be in your home, powering appliances, or fed back to the grid.

Bidirectional charging requires you to have a charger which specifically enables this, and an EV model which allows it.

One of the most important things to know about bidirectional charging is that you cannot do it with any EV charger. The majority of home EV chargers are not capable of bidirectional charging and can only send power to the battery.

That is because the DC power stored in the battery needs to be converted back to AC power before it can be used elsewhere.

To use bidirectional charging, you will need a charger specifically designed with that conversion feature. These are still rare, but may become more common in 2026.

Although they are not common, there are multiple companies which already have bidirectional chargers for sale. More are also expected to be coming onto the market soon, possibly within the next year.

There are three main ways in which an electric vehicle’s battery can be used as a bidirectional power source. These largely differ in how you want the power to be used and the equipment needed to do so.

V2L charging involves using the electric vehicle to directly power appliances using an adapter cable that plugs into your EV. This is different from other bidirectional charging in that it doesn’t need a home charger.

V2H charging uses your electric vehicle as a power source for your home loads. The charger converts the DC electricity in the battery back to AC power to be used in the home. If your vehicle is at home during the day, this can also be integrated with solar panels to ensure the power they produce does not go to waste.

Vehicle to Grid charging goes through much the same process as V2H, except that the power in your battery is exported to the power grid through your charger rather than being used in the home. If you charge your EV at off-peak hours when electricity is discounted, then you can even turn a profit from V2G charging.

Not all electric cars are currently capable of bidirectional charging. There are also different levels of compatibility among those that do. Some vehicles are capable of V2L charging, but not V2H or V2G. Some that do support V2H and V2G charging can also have strict criteria, such as requiring certain software, or rigid compatibility with certain chargers.

Other brands have announced future plans for AC bidirectional charging, but do not currently support DC bidirectional charging. The latter of these is what involves using a bidirectional charger.

Here are some examples of the most popular electric car brands in Ireland, and whether or not they support Vehicle to Home (V2H) or Vehicle to Grid (V2G) capabilities.

This list may be complicated by whether or not those models are available in all countries, or if they will come with bidirectional compatibility in all countries.

The best thing to do if bidirectional charging is something you want from an electric car is to discuss it with your dealership.

It is expected that many more cars will come to support DC enabled bidirectional charging within the next year.

There are many situations where having bidirectional charging as an option could be highly advantageous, and even profitable.

If you are ever camping or in any situation where you don’t have a power supply nearby, the battery of your electric vehicle can be used to power appliances. This simply requires a V2L adapter cable rather than a full bidirectional charger.

In the event of a power outage, your electric vehicle can act as a massive power bank for your home or a number of essential appliances. When the average Irish home uses less than 15kW of electricity in a day, a fully charged EV battery could power your home for several days.

Homeowners with a microgeneration system, such as solar panels, are able to earn money by selling excess power back to the electricity grid. This can also be done with an electric vehicle if you have V2G charging. Simply charge the EV’s battery at night, and discharge it during the day for a greater feed-in tariff to turn a profit.

AC and DC bidirectional charging differ in where the conversion between the two states takes place. What we have outlined above is DC bidirectional charging. The wall mounted charger contains a unit which converts the DC power back to AC before it is sent to the home or grid (V2H & V2G).

The other option is AC bidirectional charging, in which the car itself carries an onboard charger that carries out this conversion. This is rarer than DC enabled charging, as it requires a reworking of the design of the car to make space for another onboard converter.