Bi-directional charging

[TheVirtualTim]

I have been reading of bi-directional charging units for a while now, but it seems always “just around the corner”. I don’t read much on actual usage by average ev owners. I am aware of the f-150 lightning capabilities but it seems very expensive to actually have a system installed at a residence. I can see complications in integrating it with a residence and isolating it from the grid for saftey reasons. I’m wondering if anyone has installed a system and what issues have to be addressed in doing so?

I've priced whole-house generator system you'd likely need to hire an electrician ... and you'd need a transfer switch. You can get an inexpensive manual transfer switch for perhaps just a few hundred dollars.

But the nicer systems auto-sense when the power goes out, they have battery power to flip the transfer switch, start the generator, and begin supplying power to the home all the while continuing to monitor the the utility feed to determine when you can switch back. These systems are NOT cheap ... expect to easily pay in excess of $10k.

This makes the F-150 Lightning / Sunrun system quite competitively priced because it basically does the same thing.

One feature I like about the F-150's implementation of vehicle to home ... is that it uses independent wiring (in the case of the F-150 it uses the DC Fast Charging pins) to supply the return power. My home has two electric meters ... one meter powers the house ... but a 2nd dedicated meter charges the cars. That second meter is completely isolated from the house. I get a discounted rate on electricity by doing this. But this means that if the return power went back to the service panel used for EV charging, there would be no way to power the house. Since the F-150 uses independent wiring ... it would be possible to wire the return power through the Sunrun into the house's main service panel.

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[Maquis]

I've priced whole-house generator system you'd likely need to hire an electrician ... and you'd need a transfer switch. You can get an inexpensive manual transfer switch for perhaps just a few hundred dollars.

But the nicer systems auto-sense when the power goes out, they have battery power to flip the transfer switch, start the generator, and begin supplying power to the home all the while continuing to monitor the the utility feed to determine when you can switch back. These systems are NOT cheap ... expect to easily pay in excess of $10k.

This makes the F-150 Lightning / Sunrun system quite competitively priced because it basically does the same thing.

One feature I like about the F-150's implementation of vehicle to home ... is that it uses independent wiring (in the case of the F-150 it uses the DC Fast Charging pins) to supply the return power. My home has two electric meters ... one meter powers the house ... but a 2nd dedicated meter charges the cars. That second meter is completely isolated from the house. I get a discounted rate on electricity by doing this. But this means that if the return power went back to the service panel used for EV charging, there would be no way to power the house. Since the F-150 uses independent wiring ... it would be possible to wire the return power through the Sunrun into the house's main service panel.

Except that to-date, there are exactly zero Ford/SunRun systems that work reliably. Supposedly a software fix in the works….where have we heard that before?