Sure, an EV actually CAN energy your house – if it is considered one of these (replace)

Can an EV actually assist energy your house when the facility goes out? It’s one of many greatest FAQs folks have about electrical vehicles — however the reply could be a bit complicated. It’s both a sure, with a however – or a no, with an except. To search out out which EVs can supply vehicle-to-home (V2H) tech to maintain the lights on and even decrease your vitality payments, carry on studying.

UPDATE 18NOV2025: the Swedes get within the sport!

Fashionable EVs have massive, environment friendly batteries able to storing sufficient vitality to energy residence for days. That may imply backup energy throughout a storm or the flexibility to make use of saved vitality throughout costly peak hours and recharge once more when kilowatts are low cost.

That’s all true – however solely in principle. As a result of, whereas your EV might need an enormous battery, that doesn’t imply it has the particular {hardware} and software program that permit electrical energy to securely circulate again out of the automotive baked in. Automobile corporations name this vehicle-to-home (V2H) or bi-directional charging, and solely a handful of fashions at present assist it. That’s that, “sure, with a however” asterisk.

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Sure, an EV can energy your house, nevertheless it needs to be considered one of these.

Acura RSX (2026)

At RE+ 2025 earlier this month, Honda introduced that its upcoming all-Honda–developed Acura RSX will function bi-directional residence chargingpreviewing a future the place each new EV constructed on Honda’s personal world EV platform will assist each vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities.

So, should you’re excited in regards to the upcoming RSX or Honda’s 0 electrical rides and wish to make the most of V2x tech, you don’t have for much longer to attend. No phrase on pricing.

2026 Chevy Bolt

The freshly-unveiled 2026 Chevy Bolt returns! Using in on GM’s excellent Ultium platform, the compact Bolt provides 150 kW charging for sub-30 minute 10-80% pit stops, 255 miles of GM-estimated vary, a local NACS connection, SuperCruise ADAS, a sub-$30K price ticket, and (crucially) bidirectional V2H functionality with GM Vitality’s residence merchandise.

Our personal Jamie Dow was on the all-new Bolt’s official reveal final night time and posted a full, in-depth, behind-the-wheel take a look at Chevy’s little mainstream miracle — click on right here to take a look at the complete overview.

Ford F-150 Lightning

Ford made early headlines utilizing its F-150 Lightning as a life-saving generator throughout winter ice storms and hurricanesso it ought to come as no shock that it’s included on this listing. The perfect-selling electrical truck in America can ship as much as 9.6 kW of energy from its onboard batteries again to the home. Greater than sufficient to maintain the lights on and the fridge operating throughout an outage.

To make it work, you’ll want to put in the Cost Station Professional (previously known as Clever Backup Energy) residence charger, the House Integration System (HIS), which incorporates an inverter, a switch swap, and a small battery to modify the system on, as effectively Ford’s Cost Station Professional 80A bi-directional charger (which comes free with the Prolonged Vary F-150 Lightninghowever prices about $1,300 in any other case).

All-in, you’re about $5,000 in {hardware}, plus set upto make it work.

Let’s EV9

With as much as 300 miles of vary and ultra-fast charging, the seven-passenger electrical SUV from Kia has been a sizzling vendor. And again in March, the Kia EV9 unlocked yet one more new function: vehicle-to-home charging.

When paired with the Quasar 2 bidirectional charger from Wallbox (and the related Energy Restoration Unit, or PRU), a fully-charged Kia EV9 can energy a normal suburban residence for 3 days. Longer, nonetheless, should you’re conserving the vitality use low. The Wallbox Quasar 2 isn’t low cost, although – pricing begins at $6,440 (once more, plus set up). For that worth, you the PRU plus a wall-mounted 12 kW L2 charger with 12.8 kW of with discharge energy on a split-phase system.

Just about all of the GM EVs

Apart from the Chevy Brightdrop, GMC Hummer EVand the hand-built, ultra-luxe Cadillac CELESTIQeach Ultium-based GM EV can ship battery energy again to your house by way of GM Vitality’s Ultium House System – arguably essentially the most totally built-in EV + battery backup + photo voltaic choice on the market outdoors of Tesla.

GM Vitality says its new 19.2 kW Powershift Charger delivers round 6-7% extra juice than a typical 11.5 kW L2 charger, delivering as much as 51 miles of vary per cost hour. Bi-directional charging requires the Powershift Charger to be paired up with a appropriate GM EV and the GM Vitality V2H Enablement Equipment. The complete system retails for $12,699, plus set upand will be financed by way of GM Monetary.

NOTE: some 2024 fashions may require a software program replace to allow V2H performance, which will be performed both on the seller or by way of an OTA replace.

Polestar 3

Polestar and residential vitality firm dcbel are rolling out car?to?residence (V2H), blackout backup, and sensible charging options for Polestar 3 homeowners within the US, beginning in California.

This preliminary setup makes use of DC energy and prompts V2H functionality for Polestar 3 fashions based mostly on a 400-volt structure. The California?solely supply consists of dcbel’s Ara residence vitality system and will assist drivers lower charging prices by as a lot as $1,300 a yr. Polestar says the automotive may additionally function emergency backup energy for as much as 10 days, relying on situations.

Taiga Orca WX3

Candian startup Taiga have been providing high-performance electrical watercraft for a number of years now. For 2026, their third-gen providing options automotive-grade quick charging that can permit riders to plug into the identical quick charging networks their electrical vehicles and vehicles use, getting them again within the water in half-hour or much less.

That stated, this isn’t an article about fast-charging your PWC. Taiga is incorporating bidirectional charging into all its electrical watercraft as of 2026, turning the PWC EVs right into a cellular vitality sources that may recharge gear on the dock, energy lodge masses on bigger yachts, or deliver energy to an off-grid cabin or campsite.

Tesla Cybertruck

Tesla Cybertruck homeowners could have zero style, however they’ve two choices relating to powering their houses with their vehicles. In the event that they have already got a Tesla Powerwallthey don’t want the rest. In the event that they don’tthey’ll want to put in a Common Wall Connector charger, a Powershare Gateway, and a Tesla Backup Change.

That second choice will run about $3,500, plus set up.

Volvo EX90

As with the Polestar choice talked about, above, Volvo and residential vitality firm dcbel are rolling out car?to?residence (V2H), blackout backup, and sensible charging options for Volvo EX90 homeowners in California.

This preliminary setup makes use of DC energy and prompts V2H functionality for the EX90 fashions based mostly on the 400-volt structure, however will certainly be appropriate with the brand new 800V structure coming for 2026. The California?solely (for now) V2H supply consists of dcbel’s Ara residence vitality system and will assist drivers lower charging prices by as a lot as $1,300 a yr, and allow the large Volve to function emergency backup for over every week, relying on situations.

That rounds off the listing of autos that ship with V2H software program baked in, so should you’re questioning whether or not or not your EV can be utilized to energy your house, now you recognize the reply is sure, so long as it’s one of many ones listed right here. However you may keep in mind that I answered the preliminary query by saying it was both a sure, with a however – or a no, with an except. So if you wish to use your automotive’s battery as a backup, however don’t have one of many EVs listed above, that doesn’t imply you’re fully out of luck.

No, with an except

As a few of the earliest and most enthusiastic EV adopters, Tesla followers have additionally been among the many loudest advocates for utilizing the vitality saved their vehicles’ batteries to again up their houses — and even the grid itself. Sadly for them, the slow-selling Cybertruck is the one Tesla car that formally helps bi-directional charging. If you happen to’re one of many many Mannequin 3 and Y homeowners annoyed by these delays, there’s excellent news: these autos at the moment are able to V2H charging because of an “spectacular” Powerwall competitor, Sigenergy.

The excellent news doesn’t cease there, nonetheless. The Sigenergy V2X additionally works with each the in style Kia EV6 and Electrek‘s 2024 EV of the Yr, the Volvo EX30 over the DIN70121 protocol, and several other VW/Audi/Porsche and Mercedes-Benz EVs over the ISO15118-2 protocol.

Our personal Editor-in-Chief, Fred Lambert, lately went on a Sigenergy deep dive with Sylvain Juteau, President of Roulez Electrique, and got here away deeply impressed with the system. I’ve included the video, above, and you may learn extra in regards to the system itself at this hyperlink.

And, in fact, I sit up for studying about any V2H fashions or extra common battery backup programs from you, the neatest readers within the blogosphere, within the feedback.

Authentic content material from Electrek.

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