Cybertruck as electricity storage: Tesla to introduce bi-directional charging

Tesla already announced on 1 March 2023 that all Tesla vehicles will be able to charge in both directions by 2025. Three days ago, the company released a new video about this feature. It also announced that it will be implemented on the Cybertruck by 2025.

Other electric car manufacturers have been using bidirectional charging for some time, using the electric car as an electricity storage unit. Tesla, on the other hand, has been reluctant to embrace it. Tesla's senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, Drew Baglino, said last year that:

Bidirectional … it wasn’t like a conscious decision to not do it. It just wasn’t a priority at the time. We’ve found ways to bring bi-directionality while actually reducing the cost of power electronics in the vehicle.

V2L, V2H and V2G

Bidirectional charging requires converting direct current from the vehicle battery to alternating current for the domestic grid. There are a number of different types of bi-directional charging. The Ford F-150 Lightning, Hyundai Ioniq, Kia Niro and MG models, for example, have a normal socket for charging electrical appliances, also known as Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), which may be of interest to tradesmen who want to charge tools on the move, for example.

Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) is where the electric car is connected to a wall socket at home and feeds energy into the domestic power grid. This can be useful in the event of a power cut, for example. The third method is vehicle to grid (V2G), in which the vehicle feeds electricity back into the grid as a whole. Electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, Skoda Enyaq and VW ID.Buzz feature V2H/V2G.

Cybertruck first in line

Of all the Tesla vehicles, the Cybertruck will be the first to support the new V2L / V2H / V2G features. With a constant output of 11.5 kW, it will be able to feed the stored energy into the household grid, charge other electric cars that have stopped, for example, and charge electrical devices such as tools with 120V/240V connections in the cargo area and an output of 9.6 kW. So far, however, Tesla has not provided any details on how the system will be installed.