Amber V2G Trial Expansion

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Claire Rainbow from Amber. How are you?

[00:00:02]>> Very well, thanks Sarah.

[00:00:03]>> [laughter] >> Nice to see you.

[00:00:04]>> Good to see you. Hey Claire, we are here at Ken's house with his Atto 3 and we are here with this bi-directional charger behind me. Can you please talk about what's happening today?

[00:00:16]>> Yeah, absolutely. We're here for a very exciting milestone launching Australia's largest residential vehicle to grid rollout.

[00:00:24]Um, hooray. Uh, we've um we've done a pilot with 50 vehicle to grid sites at which showed it worked.

[00:00:32]Uh, we're now doing a thousand vehicle to grid sites. So, this is really proving that we're we're moving vehicle to grid to scale here in Australia. Um, what is vehicle to grid though, you ask?

[00:00:42]Um, well, this very fancy charger up here, the Star Charge charger, um, is able to communicate to this electric vehicle and tap into the large battery storage capacity of the car and use that battery to power Ken's home.

[00:00:56]>> Mhm.

[00:00:57]>> Uh, particularly in the evening when the sun's gone down and, you know, he's got that that evening load and and avoid slightly higher evening prices. Um, power his home and then also have the opportunity to sell some of that beautiful storage, um, it's no doubt been, you know, topped up from his rooftop solar or from, you know, cheap grid renewables, um, to sell back to the grid and really earn some money.

[00:01:18]>> Mhm. So, even though he's got a Powerwall here, he can the these two things can work in tandem.

[00:01:23]>> They do.

[00:01:24]>> And I mean, that's a much bigger battery. What's 13.5 versus >> it's about five times the size.

[00:01:29]>> Yeah.

[00:01:30]>> in your car.

[00:01:31]>> How many petrol cars do you reckon you can make money with your car?

[00:01:33]>> Oh, that's a good question.

[00:01:35]>> I don't know.

[00:01:35]>> I don't know. None, exactly. [laughter] >> Um, how So, you've got a thousand people signing up today.

[00:01:41]Have you had Is there a lot of interest in this?

[00:01:43]>> There is a lot of interest. Our current waitlist, uh, is about 6,000 plus people, uh, who have expressed interest in getting involved in vehicle to grid.

[00:01:52]>> Yeah.

[00:01:52]>> Um, and really that waitlist comes from, you know, a few events that we've we've done with people that, you know, signed up at conferences and things. Um And it supports the name >> Right.

[00:02:04]>> energy market, which is New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Southeast Queensland.

[00:02:09]>> Ah, okay.

[00:02:09]>> Um so, that's that's mainly our market.

[00:02:12]And mostly we've had interest from all over Australia.

[00:02:14]>> Yeah, okay. Interesting. And when do you think you'll be able to open these? Is that too hard of a question? Like open it up to more people, do you think?

[00:02:21]>> When you say that, [laughter] um what do you mean?

[00:02:24]>> So, I mean, obviously >> We're open now.

[00:02:26]>> But but more than a thousand more than a thousand people. When do you think we'll start expanding?

[00:02:30]>> to the tens of thousands of people.

[00:02:32]Yeah. Look, we um >> [laughter] >> I mean >> There's a few things you probably need to get in place.

[00:02:38]>> Yeah, there's a few things we need to get in place.

[00:02:39]>> Like vehicle manufacturers to be cool with the using the battery and stuff.

[00:02:42]>> So, we have a great partnership with BYD today. Um they have agreed to warrant all the participants in this trial, which is amazing. And we are working with them on, you know, getting the technology in place to open up warranties for for customers in the future. Um so, that, you know, the warranty discussion is, you know, almost off the table. It's just part of part of what >> I think that would be something that worries people, so that's really great.

[00:03:05]>> Yeah, so that's really great. Um but we're obviously in conversations with a lot of other EV OEMs, as well. Um I think they're now all aware that vehicle to grid is coming. Uh and and a lot of them are are have a have a road map to to get there. Um you know, we've also got to convince them that Australia is a market worth um investing in in terms of making sure that that technology is out here in the car in Australia. Um but we have, you know, the most interesting, volatile energy market, and the greatest opportunity therefore for vehicle to grid to to play a huge part in that value proposition of buying a car. I mean, if we say that, um you know, an average customer can save maybe two and a half thousand dollars a year on their energy um bills >> Yeah.

[00:03:45]>> by using vehicle to grid. You play that out over an 8-year warranty life, that's like >> But that's probably what people spend with their energy a year, don't you reckon?

[00:03:53]Like that. Pretty much like a living expense. your bills at the very least or potentially making money and potentially the opportunity to make it.

[00:03:59]That's amazing.

[00:04:00]>> Yeah.

[00:04:00]>> Bring on the future. Here we go, vehicle-to-grid. You've seen it here, it's working, it's live, it's happening right now. Soon to be expanded to be a thing.

[00:04:09]>> Yeah, so come and join our waitlist uh [laughter] so that we can communicate to you and let you know how you can be one of the first thousand homes uh before we move to tens of thousands of people.

[00:04:17]>> It's like standing outside a nightclub, isn't it? So >> Like, well, we might let you in or maybe not. We'll see.

[00:04:22]>> [laughter] >> All right. There you go, thanks so much.

[00:04:24]>> Yeah, pleasure.

[00:04:26]>> I'm here with Ken.

[00:04:27]>> Hi.

[00:04:27]>> Ken, this is your car. We've got an Atto 3. Come, come with me. So, we've got a BYD Atto 3 and it's plugged in, but the special part of this is not that you have a Tesla Powerwall here, it's that you have this. So, tell us about this.

[00:04:41]This is a Star Charge bi-directional charger, is that correct?

[00:04:45]>> yeah, that's right. So, what this allows me to do is basically allow the electricity of the grid to charge all the way to the car and if I want, the car can also power the grid, can also power my Tesla Powerwall as well and that is a game-changer for me.

[00:05:02]>> So, this is a vehicle-to-grid enabler.

[00:05:05]It's happening right now. You're part of the Amber trial and you've had it for how long?

[00:05:10]>> A month.

[00:05:10]>> Wow, and how So, talk to me about it.

[00:05:12]What do you feel?

[00:05:13]>> it's charging, right? So, we've got As you can see, it's it's been very rainy recently and what I can do is I can basically charge plug it in and then I can set, you know, timers and the time of the day. So, for example, today I set it to 6:00 a.m. in the morning. I want my car charged to 65%.

[00:05:34]>> Okay.

[00:05:34]>> So, I plugged it in last night 8:00 p.m.

[00:05:37]It does all the calculations to know when's the cheapest time to charge and by 6:00 a.m. today it was 65%.

[00:05:43]>> Amazing.

[00:05:44]>> Which is great.

[00:05:45]>> And did it sell energy overnight when you were No, it depends.

[00:05:48]>> [laughter] >> It depends. If it had excess energy, it would have probably.

[00:05:52]>> But because it was at about 35% it just focused on >> Charging at at the cheapest rate that it could find.

[00:05:59]>> That's right.

[00:06:00]>> Anyone who's with Amber will know that there's AI built into the app. So I'm with Amber myself and you can set and forget. So if you can just set parameters say for example, you wanted to go by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, I want the car fully charged and I don't want it ever to go below say 40%. Those are the parameters you could set and then it will just go off and make make you money overnight if it wants to if there was an opportunity to sell it would sell but it will always then make sure that the battery's full for you in the morning. So what petrol car though Ken will actually make you money? Cuz they talk about depreciation with electric cars and I'm like hang on.

[00:06:34]>> Yeah.

[00:06:34]>> All cars depreciate but what petrol car can make you like this is a absolute game changer. You're using your battery on wheels. I mean I know you've got a power wall here. Actually so how does this So how do these two things work together?

[00:06:46]>> So there's a bit of a leader follower rule.

[00:06:48]>> Right.

[00:06:49]>> So the way it works is if there's any excess energy from the solar, it will power the Tesla power wall first.

[00:06:55]>> Okay.

[00:06:56]>> And then that's followed by the car. If that's full, it then will power the car.

[00:07:00]>> Right.

[00:07:01]>> And in the same way, if the power wall is depleted, the car will charge the power wall as first preference.

[00:07:07]>> Mhm.

[00:07:08]>> And then the power wall can start powering the home.

[00:07:10]>> Yeah.

[00:07:10]>> So that's how it works. If that's full, then you can sell to the grid.

[00:07:13]>> Right. And would you say I mean it's hard to say with a month, right?

[00:07:16]Obviously a month isn't very long.

[00:07:18]>> Mhm.

[00:07:19]>> Do you feel like do you see a difference? Are you saving money? Do you think?

[00:07:22]>> Definitely. So for example, when it's very very sunny, >> Right.

[00:07:27]>> I've got more capacity to sell to the grid.

[00:07:30]>> Right.

[00:07:31]>> And on days like today where it's very rainy and it's been raining for the past whole week, there's no sun at all, >> Mhm.

[00:07:38]>> we're relying completely on Amber's pricing model to optimize the charging.

[00:07:43]So, we'll charge in the daytime when it's cheaper, and when in the nighttime when the rates are much higher, we'll just use >> That's when you sell.

[00:07:51]So, just uh so people understand, Amber is the wholesale market. So, you're accessing the literally the wholesale prices. They don't add anything onto those prices. This is not an ad for Amber, by the way.

[00:08:01]>> Yeah.

[00:08:02]>> But, I'm just with them, so I'm aware of what it is. You pay $25, $26 membership every month. That's That's where they they make their money. But, >> Yeah.

[00:08:10]>> you get access to these wholesale rates.

[00:08:11]And because during the middle of the day we have so much excess sunshine, those prices are really, really low. In fact, you can see the percentage of how many renewables in the grid in the middle of the day. And that's what I do, actually, cuz I only have a very small solar array. I buy cheaply in the middle of the day, fill up the battery, and also excess solar goes in there as well. But, it's just amazing, isn't it? I really love it. I do feel feel like I'm doing an infomercial for Amber right now, but I'm not.

[00:08:34]>> [laughter] >> Like with my, you know, petrol car, I would spend at least $50 a week.

[00:08:41]>> Really?

[00:08:42]>> Yeah, at least.

[00:08:43]Uh and that's being still very frugal.

[00:08:46]You like not traveling long distances to work and the shops and that.

[00:08:49]>> Yeah.

[00:08:50]>> Um but with this now, I can see that powering the house together, powering the car together, I'm spending no more than 25, and that's a worst-case scenario, right?

[00:09:01]>> That's a worst-case >> a sunny day on a sunny day, what would you What do you think you could In summer, what do you think? Like do you think >> She will be [snorts and laughter] in the negative, actually.

[00:09:09]>> Wow.

[00:09:10]>> Yeah.

[00:09:11]Cuz you've got great solar, that powers up, then this powers up.

[00:09:15]And then if there's excess, you can sell it. It sells it back to the grid, and by nighttime when the feed-in tariffs are higher, that's probably selling cuz this is selling. Cuz together, that's about 70 plus, about 75 kilowatts, you see?

[00:09:29]>> Mhm. I You know what? I say good on BYD for coming on board and allowing their car to be used this way. Yeah, yeah. So, your your warranty isn't voided by doing this?

[00:09:38]>> No. In fact, BYD actually sent me a letter.

[00:09:41]On the letterhead, it said that they would guarantee the battery, the 10-year warranty.

[00:09:46]And I shouldn't be afraid of, you know, the cycles of charge and discharge and things like that.

[00:09:51]>> Wow.

[00:09:52]>> So, they put it on paper.

[00:09:53]>> Do you know what? That's really interesting cuz I was at Essential Energy and I went to their Innovation Hub and they were testing in this in Leaf. This was a good 18 months 2 years ago. And it was really interesting because he was accelerating in the car and you could see how much stress driving puts on the actual battery. It's really like it's really full on. But, the car the house, when you're using a house, they said, "We're doing all this testing with with vehicle to grid with the Leaf." And he said, "Oh, no. It's It's really gentle." I think the hesitancy against with with car makers is a bit overblown. I think it's going to be completely fine. And I'm so excited to see the future here today.

[00:10:27]This This is so exciting.

[00:10:29]>> It is very exciting. I love it.

[00:10:31]>> so people don't realize that this when they go and put charge. So, this is a an EV NX um >> Yes, I've got a V2G4. I heard about the V2X.

[00:10:38]>> So, you wouldn't be able to do vehicle to grid with this. You do need a special dedicated vehicle to grid charger.

[00:10:45]Are these expensive? I think Claire from Amber was saying that they are subsidized. So, >> No idea, to be >> You have no idea. [laughter] What does this mean here? Does this mean it's charging?

[00:10:55]>> That means it's charging >> how full it is?

[00:10:57]>> Yeah, if you want to look at the car, so there's a little instrument cluster there. It says it's got about 4.8 kW going into the car.

[00:11:04]>> Ah, cool. Yeah.

[00:11:07]>> And It's uh I've got a little Apple >> Oh, have a look on your app here. Here we go.

[00:11:14]>> that tells me um >> Here we go.

[00:11:16]>> you know, how much energy is going into the vehicle. So, it's a manual control at the moment, right? I can pause it.

[00:11:23]So, I'll pause that. If I wanted to discharge, I would just slide that way.

[00:11:27]But, this is the video I was talking about, right?

[00:11:30]Smart It means it has a plan.

[00:11:34]>> Oh, so you can look ahead and go, "Okay, this is when I'm going to sell."

[00:11:38]Gee, this is great.

[00:11:43]And this could either be automated or it can just be set, you know, you can manually take over if you want to, yeah?

[00:11:48]>> If I know I'm going to Wollongong tomorrow for instance and I like my car at 75% I can just go tomorrow.

[00:11:56]>> Oh, great.

[00:11:57]You can schedule it.

[00:11:58]>> I can schedule it.

[00:11:59]>> That's right.

[00:12:00]You can set what it is.

[00:12:01]>> Yeah, I can set it.

[00:12:02]>> I think And you know what's interesting is I asked someone yesterday about how many people have actually signed up to a VPP with the new cheaper home battery scheme and he said that it's a lot of people but the majority of people are with Amber because you can still take over manually and take control with the VPP. I think sometimes people get a bit worried that it's going to be like, "Oh, they're going to control my battery."

[00:12:21]But the fact that you can intervene anytime I think is great. So, it can be automated or you can intervene. But isn't this amazing? There you go, vehicle-to-grid happening right now in Australia. We are You are part of the future, Ken.

[00:12:34]>> [laughter] >> There you go.