ARENA funds Australia’s largest commercial vehicle-to-grid trial

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced a multimillion-dollar investment to launch the Realising Electric Vehicle-to-Grid Services 2 (REVS2) project. This initiative represents Australia’s largest commercial deployment of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.

Supported by $4.1 million from ARENA and $1.25 million from JET Charge, the three-year trial involves the ACT Government fleet. Up to 130 electric vehicles equipped with bidirectional chargers will be used to test how commercial fleets can support the electricity grid. The project aims to determine how vehicles can store renewable energy and supply it back to the grid during periods of high demand, potentially providing financial incentives for fleet operators.

Many of the vehicles in the fleet are used for in-home health services and remain parked at government buildings overnight. This allows the technology to extract electricity from the car batteries during peak demand periods. The trial is expected to run until 2029, building on the success of a 2020 pilot that proved the technical feasibility of feeding power back into the grid.