What is Hyundai's plan for vehicle-to-grid technology?

Vehicle-to-grid is a different proposition. It allows an electric vehicle charger to not only charge a vehicle, but also take energy from it, so stored energy can be exported to the network at times of high demand³. For a household, that is the difference between a car that is a load on the grid and a car that is an asset to it.

The gap between the two is not Hyundai's alone. Bidirectional charging is currently being trialled in some places but is not widely available, and only CHAdeMO currently has a valid protocol for V2G charging that feeds electricity into the public grid⁵. Hyundai's own guidance states that vehicle-to-grid pilot programmes are active and wider infrastructure is developing, with full access depending on the local energy provider and compatible hardware¹.

What vehicle-to-grid means for a Hyundai owner

For a Hyundai owner, vehicle-to-grid describes a future in which the car's battery does three jobs rather than one. It charges from the grid when electricity is cheap or abundant. It powers the home instead of exporting, which is vehicle-to-home. Or it sends energy back to the network, which is vehicle-to-grid proper⁹.

The distinction matters because the three capabilities need different hardware and carry different value. Vehicle-to-home utilises the energy to power a home rather than delivering it back to the grid¹⁰. Vehicle-to-grid, by contrast, allows electric vehicles to not only draw power from the grid to charge their batteries but also to send electricity back to the grid when needed, generating cash for the EV owner¹⁰. Hyundai's own product page lists Vehicle-to-Grid as coming soon, alongside the Vehicle-to-Load function the cars already carry¹.

There is a third layer that households often miss: the charger. Vehicle-to-grid technology allows an EV charger to not only charge a vehicle, but also take energy from the vehicle, so the wall unit is as much a part of the system as the car³. A household that buys a Hyundai today and an ordinary chargepoint alongside it has no upgrade path to V2G without replacing the chargepoint.

The independence question is therefore split. A Hyundai with Vehicle-to-Load already reduces dependence on mains power for small loads, and can run equipment during an outage without any grid connection at all. Full energy independence, in the sense of running the house from the car, depends on a charger, a protocol and a supplier arrangement that are not yet standard in the UK.

Bidirectional charging: what the car can do

Bidirectional charging refers to the smart charging and discharging of electric vehicles¹¹. In practice it turns the car into an ultra-powerful battery, with the ability to send energy to a home or the grid¹². Official guidance describes the same idea as V2X, which allows electric vehicles to operate bidirectionally, charging from the electricity grid but also discharging to the grid, building or home as needed¹³.

The capability splits into three named functions, and Hyundai's range touches only the first today.

Vehicle-to-home allows you to power your home using energy from your EV, which can be especially useful during power outages⁹. Independent guidance is more cautious, noting that it can provide backup power from your EV to your home during power outages and support off-grid setups, but that V2H is limited to certain EV models and compatible chargers⁴. Both statements point the same way: the function exists, the equipment list is short.

Plug-in hybrids complicate the picture. They can do bidirectional charging too, but the benefits are slight, because they only have a small battery that can store only a limited amount of energy⁶. A household weighing a plug-in Hyundai against a full electric one should treat bidirectional capability as a full-electric feature in practice.

Is V2G legal in the UK?

Bidirectional charging is allowed and encouraged by the UK government, and the constraint is technical rather than legal⁶. The work has been publicly funded for years. The V2GB feasibility study, Vehicle to Grid Britain, was part of the Vehicle-to-Grid competition, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in partnership with Innovate UK⁸.

The network operators treat it as part of the plan rather than an exception. Vehicle-to-grid technology enables energy stored in EVs to be fed back into the electricity network, and the same description appears in network operator guidance going back to 2023¹⁵. An official case study recorded over three million free miles made available to customers who exported energy back to the grid during peak times⁷.

The economics of that export are contested. One assessment found that smart charging can capture 80% of the value of V2G for low plug-in scenarios, or 24% for high plug-in cases, with grid services excluded⁸. A separate assessment puts the same figures at 40% for low plug-in scenarios and merely 10% for high plug-in cases⁸. The two documents disagree, and the disagreement matters: it is the difference between V2G being a meaningful household income and a marginal one.

The protocol problem: CHAdeMO, CCS and what works today

The reason a Hyundai cannot export to the grid today is a standards question, not a hardware one. Only CHAdeMO currently has a valid protocol for V2G charging in order to feed electricity into the public grid⁶. CHAdeMO is primarily used for rapid DC charging on older Nissan Leaf models, and a few older models still use it for rapid charging, but CCS has largely replaced it¹⁷.

That leaves the UK with an awkward position: the connector that can export is being phased out, and the connector that dominates cannot yet export. CHAdeMO is less common now and is being phased out in favour of CCS¹⁹. The more common CCS standard used in most modern European EVs is rapidly gaining bidirectional capability through the ISO 15118 protocol²⁰.

Hyundai's cars sit on the CCS side of that divide. The IONIQ 6 architecture supports both 400 and 800 volt charging infrastructures, which is a charging-speed advantage rather than a bidirectional one². For a household, the practical consequence is that the car is ready for the direction the standard is moving in, and not ready for the direction that works today.

What V2G could save households and the grid

The household case rests on two numbers, and both are modelled rather than measured. The first is battery life. Vehicle-to-grid use could extend useable battery life by 10%, according to an independent assessment²¹. That runs against the common assumption that cycling a car battery harder shortens its life.

The second is grid capacity. If 50% of the UK's EVs were V2G enabled, they could provide around 16GW of daily flexible capacity to the grid by 2030, according to an official case study⁷. That is a system-level figure, not a household one, but it explains why network operators and government have funded the trials.

The wider argument is about renewable energy. Having electric vehicles as battery storage will allow us to better manage the UK's energy, and vehicle-to-grid could be one of the best ways of storing excess renewable energy³. A vehicle-to-grid system could potentially offer a two-way movement of energy, with energy stored in the car battery used in the home or sold back to the grid at times of peak demand²². Decentralised storage in EVs also makes it easier to connect more renewable energy sources to the grid, with users benefiting from payments for V2G services¹¹.

For a household, the honest reading is that the savings depend on a tariff, a charger and a protocol that are still developing. No published UK price exists for a bidirectional chargepoint, so costs are installer-quoted. What can be said is that the value of export is disputed between assessments, and that the battery-life effect is reported as positive rather than negative: one assessment puts the extension of useable battery life at 10%¹. The wider case rests on decentralised storage in EVs making it easier to connect more renewable energy sources to the grid, with users paid for V2G services².

Hyundai's reliability record and what it means for energy use

A car used as a home battery has to be dependable for a decade, so reliability is part of the energy case rather than a separate motoring question. Hyundai's recent record is strong on the survey evidence. The Hyundai i10 and SANTA FE both achieved a flawless 100% score in the 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey, and the Santa Fe was rated among the UK's most reliable cars in that survey²³. Hyundai also reports two accolades at the 2026 What Car? Awards, and three titles at the 2026 What Car? Electric Car Awards, including Best Electric Performance Car for the IONIQ 6 N²⁵.

Efficiency figures for the electric range are published by the maker. The IONIQ 6 is listed at 13.4 kWh per 100 km on 18 inch wheels in one configuration, and 13.5 kWh per 100 km on 18 inch wheels in another². Those are consumption figures for driving, not for home supply, and they set the context for how much energy a household would be moving in and out of the car. The same model offers V2L bi-directional charging at up to 3.6 kW output².

The dependence that remains is worth stating plainly. A Hyundai owner using the car for home energy depends on the grid for recharging, on a supplier for any export payment, on a charger manufacturer for bidirectional hardware, and on Hyundai for the vehicle and its warranty. Vehicle-to-load reduces that dependence for small loads and during outages. Vehicle-to-grid, when it arrives, would deepen the relationship with the grid rather than remove it.

Where the plan stands

Hyundai's position is a staged one. Vehicle-to-load is shipping. Vehicle-to-home is limited to certain models and chargers. Vehicle-to-grid is listed as coming soon, with pilot programmes active and wider infrastructure developing, and full access depending on the local energy provider and compatible hardware¹. The protocol that would carry it, ISO 15118 over CCS, is gaining capability but is not yet the route to public grid export in the UK⁶.

For a household, that means the car can already do something useful and cannot yet do the thing the marketing implies. The related questions of which cars support the function, what the equipment costs, and how export earnings work are covered in which cars support bidirectional charging, bidirectional chargers and V2G earnings and tariffs. The standards themselves are set out in bidirectional charging standards, and the wider picture sits in the emerging home energy technology guide.