By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Octopus Energy (LON:ORIT) said on Thursday it has launched the country's first vehicle-to-grid tariff, guaranteeing free charging for electric vehicle owners who sell the power from their cars' batteries back to the grid during peak hours.
Octopus said that its Octopus Power Pack tariff will save EV owners who drive 10,000 miles (16,093km) per year more than 850 pounds ($1,067) annually.
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) or bidirectional charging has long been seen as a technology with the potential to help balance power grids by using millions of EVs as batteries on wheels that would provide power back to grids when they need it most.
So far there are few EV models beyond the Nissan Leaf that are capable of bidirectional charging, though other automakers have V2G ready models coming to market over the next few years.
Octopus said the tariff uses the company's Kraken tech platform, "charging up the car with cheap, green electricity during off peak times and exporting back to the grid when it needs it most."
The company said that participating EV owners need to have their cars plugged in for around six hours a day to return power to the grid and drive less than 12,000 miles per year.
($1 = 0.7966 pounds)