Electric vehicle owners could charge their engines for free with a new energy deal from Octopus Energy, but it currently only applies to three car models.
The Power Pack deal could save drivers more than £850 a year compared to charging cars on a variable-rate electricity tariff that is subject to Ofgem’s price cap, Octopus said.
The deal uses ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology, which allows electric vehicle owners to offload electricity from their vehicles to their homes or the national grid.
Drivers who sign up to the Power Pack deal can charge up with cheap electricity at off-peak times and then export it back to the grid when it’s needed most.
Giving back: V2G technology allows electric vehicle owners to offload electricity from their vehicles to their homes or the national grid
By buying electricity at a low price and selling it at a high price, drivers can effectively charge it for free, up to a limit of about 12,000 miles a year.
Octopus says all drivers have to do is plug in their cars to charge them for about six hours a day, and the rest of the process is automated.
However, there are only three electric vehicles that will work with the Power Pack. These are the Nissan Leaf, Nissan e-NV200 and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
Anyone interested in Power Pack will need to have an existing agreement with Octopus Energy, as Power Pack acts as a supplemental agreement, not a separate agreement.
Eligible households will also need a Wallbox Quasar 1 V2G charger, a smart meter and permission to export power to their local distribution network.
The Power Pack deal will work with additional electric vehicles in the future, as long as they are compatible with the CHAdeMO fast charging system and can discharge electricity, Octopus said.
Octopus Energy head of flexibility Alex Schoch said: “Electric vehicles are going to be an important lever in our future green, flexible network, but to get there we need to unlock the capabilities of their batteries.”
“Now that we have Octopus Power Pack, it is up to automakers to make vehicles that are compatible with V2G technology.”
Customers can register interest in joining the fare via this online form.