As part of our ARENA-funded trial, 50 V2G bidirectional chargers are being installed into Aussie homes across NSW and SA. Each month from here we'll share results from the fleet - a real-world look at how Amber customers are using their EVs to power their homes and send energy back to the grid. We're just getting started, and what's already happening tells a good story.
You’ll see mention of V2X (Vehicle to Everything) in these updates, which refers to the technology that lets your EV do more than just drive - it can power your home (V2H) and even sell energy back to the grid (V2G).
What happened this month
No big price spikes this month. Pretty steady conditions across the board.
Just over half the value came from something pretty simple: charging cars during the day (mostly with rooftop solar), then using that stored energy in the evening instead of buying from the grid. That's V2H, or Vehicle to Home, and it did most of the heavy lifting this month.
Selling energy back to the grid matters too, but the day-to-day savings come from load shifting: store cheap energy, use it later. Even in a quiet month, it works.
The numbers
- Fleet size: 25 vehicles
- Period: 5 April - 5 May 2026
Energy in, energy out
- Total charged into vehicles: 8,548.4 kWh All the energy that flowed into EV batteries over the 30 days, whether from the grid, rooftop solar or other home energy sources
- Total discharged from vehicles: 3,694.0 kWh Energy that flowed back out of EV batteries for useful purposes, either powering the home (V2H) or going back to the grid (V2G).
What it means in dollars
- Gross charging cost: $705.85 What it cost to charge the batteries in the first place, including grid electricity and any solar that could have been exported instead
- Value returned via V2H + V2G: $1,001.29 The financial benefit of using that stored energy smartly, whether that's powering the home (avoiding buying from the grid) or exporting back and earning a feed-in payment
- Net fleet saving: $263.81 After you subtract the charging costs from the value returned, that's the real saving across the whole fleet for the month
On average, each customer over those 30 days:
- Earned $10.55 of value from V2X energy flows, including the benefit of their EV powering their home (74 kWh)
- Got the equivalent of around 2,050 km of driving for free (assuming 6 km/kWh)
That's real savings from energy that was already sitting in their car.
Our learnings
V2H carried the month - The "solar charges the car, car powers the home at night" pattern is working. Store cheap daytime energy, use it later. Simple, and it works. This is the foundation everything else is built on.
The fleet is still warming up - Some newer users aren't plugging in consistently yet, and a few early export configuration issues meant the numbers were a bit lower than they could be. As habits form and configurations settle, we'd expect these numbers to climb. The ceiling here is meaningfully higher than what we're seeing today.
What we’re watching
With 25 vehicles now connected, we haven't yet seen what happens when a big price spike hits across the grid. That's when V2X really gets to flex. Cars export energy back at high prices, customers can earn more, and the grid gets help exactly when it needs it most.
This month was steady: just over $1,000 of grid cost avoided using energy already sitting in people's cars. Not a blockbuster opening act, but proof the fundamentals are solid. When the grid gets stressed, this fleet will be ready - and it's only going to grow from here.
