During a major storm event that eventually cut power to tens of thousands of homes, a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) were able to feed power back into Australia’s electricity grid, according to a new report from The Australian National University (ANU).

According to lead author of the study, Senior Research Fellow Dr Bjorn Sturmberg, it’s the first time in the world this type of vehicle-to-grid response to an emergency has been demonstrated. 

“It shows electric vehicles can provide the backup we need in an emergency like this,” he said. 

“We have a fleet of 51 EVs across Canberra that monitor the grid whenever they’re plugged in and can quickly inject short bursts of power to rebalance the system if the national grid rapidly loses power. They’re essentially big batteries on wheels. 

“The event in February — caused by storms in Victoria — was the first real-world test of our vehicles and chargers. We now know a vehicle-to-grid system can work.”  

At the time, 16 EVs were plugged in at properties across Canberra. Four were charging, while 12 were idle. 

“These vehicles quickly stopped charging and within seconds started discharging power into the grid, as they’ve been programmed to do,” Dr Sturmberg said. 

“In total, they provided 107 kilowatts of support to the national grid. To put that in perspective, 105,000 vehicles responding in this way would fully cover the backup required for the whole of the ACT and NSW.  

“For context, there were just under 100,000 EVs sold in Australia last year.” 

Dr Sturmberg said there is still work to be done to balance the growing demand for vehicle charging with grid security.