Thomas Schmall, Member of the Group Board of Management responsible for Technology at Volkswagen AG: “The difference between combustion-engine vehicles and electric cars will in future be evident not only in the drivetrain. The electric car will become part of a digital energy and mobility system: it can store electricity, charge in a controlled manner, feed energy back and thus also create economic added value while parked. With Vehicle-to-Grid, we are making this advantage usable for customers. With its MEB base, standardized vehicle platforms, software and Elli’s energy expertise, the Volkswagen Group has the prerequisites to bring this technology to the volume market across many brands and models.”
Vehicle-to-grid describes the feeding of energy from the vehicle battery back into the electricity grid. This means that, in the future, an electric vehicle not only charges and stores energy, but also provides energy back to the grid during specific time windows. For customers, this creates the opportunity to earn money and reduce energy costs. For the energy system, additional flexibility can be created when many vehicles, charge points, and tariffs are intelligently controlled. The basis for the market ramp-up is the combination of an MEB vehicle fleet already on the road, Group-wide platform standards, the brands’ customer interfaces, and Elli as Volkswagen Group’s energy expert. Already today, around one million Volkswagen Group vehicles based on the MEB platform are on Europe’s roads, including around 360,000 in Germany, which are technically ready for bidirectional charging and therefore enable gradual scaling across multiple brands, models, and markets.
Vehicle-to-Grid as a new multi-brand offering in Germany
At launch, the offer is aimed at customers of Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and CUPRA in Germany. Further Group brands and markets, including France and the UK, are expected to be connected once the technical, regulatory, and product-related requirements have been met. The product package comprises compatible electric vehicles, a DC bidirectional charger, the so-called Elli BiDi Charger, a new Volkswagen Naturstrom V2G Flow tariff, the Elli BiDi App for control, and energy-industry optimization in the background.
Vehicles from ID. Software 3.5 with a battery capacity of 77 kWh or more are planned, as well as all ID. models with ID. Software 6. Volkswagen is thereby addressing both a large proportion of the existing vehicle fleet and future volume models based on the MEB platform.
The system is designed to be simple: users plug in their vehicle to the compatible Elli BiDi Charger. Via the Elli BiDi app, they can specify when the vehicle should be available again and with what minimum state of charge. The available plug-in time can then be used for energy-industry purposes. The vehicle remains first and foremost a mobility solution while also being able to provide available battery capacity for flexibility in the energy system.
According to current planning, a plug-in bonus of up to €720 is possible in the first contract year.
Silke Bagschik, Head of After Sales & Customer Interaction, Volkswagen AG: “Our ambition is to translate a complex technology in such a way that it becomes understandable and usable in everyday life. Customers should not have to piece together individual components, but should receive an integrated offering: vehicle, charger, electricity tariff and app from a single provider. Elli also connects customers with a partner for access to a smart meter. This turns the technical capability of bidirectional charging into a tangible customer benefit.”
Elli as the Group’s own brand connects vehicle, charging infrastructure, and the energy market
Elli assumes the role of Volkswagen Group’s energy manager and bundles operational implementation: energy-industry integration, the development and operation of app-based control, electricity tariff logic, optimization in the background, aggregation of available battery capacities and the marketing of flexibility. The company brings experience from home charging services, the energy business, and energy trading.
Giovanni Palazzo, CEO of Elli:
“The energy transition needs storage, and much of it is already standing in our customers’ garages. With Vehicle-to-Grid, we are making the battery of the electric car an active part of the energy system for the first time. Elli bundles available battery capacities, connects them with the energy market and turns them into controllable flexibility in the form of a virtual power plant. This creates a connected energy ecosystem that brings together customer benefit and system benefit.”
The Mobility House Energy as technology service provider
For the market ramp-up of vehicle-to-grid, Elli is partly drawing on the technology of The Mobility House Energy. With its FlexEngine platform, the company bundles available battery capacities and provides the bidirectional charger. The Mobility House Energy has many years of experience in integrating electric vehicles into international energy markets and in the commercial implementation of vehicle-to-grid and flexibility solutions in Europe.
Economic context
The expansion of renewable energy is fundamentally changing the requirements placed on the electricity system. Wind and solar power are not always available when electricity is needed. At the same time, the need for flexible storage is growing. Vehicle batteries are therefore regarded as one of Europe’s largest energy resources that have so far remained untapped. The Volkswagen Group’s MEB vehicles that are already prepared for bidirectional charging have a combined potential storage capacity of several dozen gigawatt hours. Vehicle-to-grid makes it possible for the first time to gradually integrate this capacity intelligently into the energy system. Individual vehicles can thus become part of a connected storage network. Elli’s long-term target picture is to bundle available battery capacities from vehicles as well as central and decentralized storage systems and make them usable for the energy industry as a virtual power plant. Elli can aggregate, control, and market this flexibility on energy markets. This creates a new business model at the interface of electric mobility and energy: customers make their battery capacity available within defined parameters, while Elli takes over operational control and energy-industry optimization.
Studies by Fraunhofer ISI and Fraunhofer ISE for Transport & Environment put the potential savings from bidirectional charging in Europe at up to 22 billion euros in lower annual system costs in 2040 and around 175 billion euros cumulatively between 2030 and 2040. At the same time, in Germany alone, around 9,374 GWh of renewable energy was curtailed in 2024, which could be used more effectively in future. This amount of energy would have been sufficient to power around three million battery-electric vehicles for one year. (Fraunhofer ISE/ ISI on behalf of Transport&Environment (2024), "Potential of a full EV-power-system integration in Europe & how to realise it“)
Bidirectional charging could reduce system costs in the European power system by up to €22 billion per year by 2040.
Registration at Power2Drive
From the start of Power2Drive, interested customers can register for the vehicle-to-grid offering on the Elli website. Registration serves as a non-binding expression of interest for the next steps. The planned start of ordering is at the end of the year. Registered customers will be informed as soon as it is possible to order the DC bidirectional charger and conclude the Volkswagen Naturstrom V2G Flow tariff.
