Volkswagen Group subsidiary Elli is taking the next major step for the energy ecosystem of electric vehicles and is bringing Vehicle-to-Grid charging to market maturity. Together with the brands Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and CUPRA, Elli is presenting at Power2Drive, the international leading trade fair for electric mobility in Munich, how bidirectional charging can soon be translated into a scalable, customer-focused offer that is integrated into the energy industry. The new product package is initially aimed at customers in Germany and consists of an Elli BiDi Charger, Volkswagen Naturstrom V2G Flow tariff and the Elli BiDi App, which enables access to the energy market. From the start of the trade fair, interested customers can register their interest for the offer.
"Der Unterschied zwischen Verbrenner und Elektroauto zeigt sich künftig nicht nur beim Antrieb. Das Elektroauto wird Teil eines digitalen Energie- und Mobilitätssystems: Es kann Strom speichern, gesteuert laden, Energie zurückgeben und damit auch während der Parkzeit wirtschaftlichen Mehrwert schaffen. Mit Vehicle-to-Grid machen wir diesen Vorteil für Kundinnen und Kunden nutzbar. Der Volkswagen Konzern verfügt mit der MEB-Basis, standardisierten Fahrzeugplattformen, Software und der Energiekompetenz von Elli über die Voraussetzungen, diese Technologie über viele Marken und Modelle hinweg in den Volumenmarkt zu bringen."
Thomas Schmall,
Konzernvorstand Technik der Volkswagen AG
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 als neue Mehrmarken-Angebot in Deutschland
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 socalled 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 ¹
"Unser Anspruch ist, eine komplexe Technologie so zu übersetzen, dass sie im Alltag verständlich und nutzbar wird. Kundinnen und Kunden sollen nicht einzelne Bausteine zusammensuchen müssen, sondern ein integriertes Angebot erhalten: Fahrzeug, Wallbox, Stromtarif und App gibt es bei einem Anbieter. Auch für den Zugang zu einem Smart Meter vermittelt Elli einen Partner. So wird aus der technischen Fähigkeit des bidirektionalen Ladens ein konkreter Kundennutzen."
Silke Bagschik,
Head of After Sales & Customer Interaction, Volkswagen AG
Elli als konzerneigene Marke verbindet Fahrzeug, Ladeinfrastruktur und Energiemarkt
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.
"Die Energiewende braucht Speicher und viele davon stehen bereits in den Garagen unserer Kundinnen und Kunden. Mit Vehicle-to-Grid machen wir die Batterie des Elektroautos erstmals zu einem aktiven Bestandteil des Energiesystems. Elli bündelt verfügbare Batteriekapazitäten, verbindet sie mit dem Energiemarkt und macht daraus steuerbare Flexibilität in Form eines virtuellen Kraftwerks. Dadurch entsteht ein vernetztes Energie-Ökosystem, das Kundennutzen und Systemnutzen zusammenbringt"
Giovanni Palazzo,
CEO Elli
The Mobility House Energy als Technologiedienstleister
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.
Wirtschaftliche Einordnung
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.
Bidirectional charging could reduce system costs in the European power system by up to €22 billion per year by 2040.
Vorregistrierung ab 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.
¹ The connection bonus is based on the duration for which the vehicle is connected to a compatible DC bidirectional charger in V2G mode. With 250 hours of connection time per month, a maximum connection bonus of EUR 60 per month in the first contract year, or a total of EUR 720 in the first contract year, can be achieved; a minimum charging time of three hours per charging session is required for a charging session to be taken into account for the calculation of the connection bonus. Payment requires an active Volkswagen Naturstrom V2G Flow tariff and linking with the Elli BiDi App. The connection bonus advertised here is granted only to a limited number of customers; binding entitlement to earn the connection bonus applies only in the event of contract confirmation for the Volkswagen Naturstrom V2G Flow tariff.