Octopus Energy has launched the UK’s first mass market vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tariff, which will allow drivers to charge their electric vehicle for free, provided they keep it plugged for long enough.
The Octopus Power Pack tariff will use V2G charging technology and Octopus’ Kraken platform to charge vehicles with cheap green electricity during off-peak periods and then export it back to the grid when demand and prices are high.
Customers will receive free charging so long as they plug their vehicle in for at least 170 hours per month – equating to roughly six hours per day – and stay below the usage limit of 333kWh per month – the equivalent of around 12,000 miles per year for a typical driver. Octopus said someone driving 10,000 miles per year could expect save around £850 per year when compared to charging their vehicle on a standard variable tariff.
The tariff will work as a bolt-on to customers’ main import tariff, which separates EV charging from other household consumption and can also be stacked with an export tariff for solar generation.
Octopus noted that only a limited number of vehicle models currently have the capability to provide V2G charging, although car manufacturers have committed to release more.
Alex Schoch, head of flexibility at Octopus Energy, said: “We recently moved past a million EVs on UK roads – a major milestone – but their true power for storing energy remains untapped. Once we reach 10 million electric cars on the road, we’ll have enough storage to power the entirety of Great Britain during peak times. All our drivers have to do is plug in regularly and their charging is completely free.
“EVs are going to be a major lever in our future flexible, green grid, but to get there we need to unlock the capabilities of their batteries. Now we have Octopus Power Pack, it’s over to car manufacturers to build the cars that are compatible with V2G technology.”
Octopus already has more than 200,000 customers signed up to its other smart EV charging tariffs – Intelligent Octopus Go and Octopus Go.
V2G charging in the UK has previously been limited to innovation trials, most notably by Ovo Energy. Ovo is also exploring vehicle-to-everything (V2X) charging whereby EV batteries are also used to power customers’ own homes.