Vehicle-to-Load

What it does

Vehicle-to-Load lets you plug appliances into your EV as if it were a generator or large power bank. The car provides AC power from its traction battery through either a built-in socket (usually Type 2 via an adaptor, or a dedicated 230V outlet) or an adaptor connected to the charging port.

Typical output is 3.6 kW continuous - roughly equivalent to a standard Australian 15A power outlet. That’s enough for most camping gear, power tools, a refrigerator, lighting, a coffee machine, or even a portable air conditioner.

Which Australian EVs have it

V2L has become a standard feature rather than a premium option on many vehicles:

• Hyundai IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 - 3.6 kW via charging port adaptor + internal outlet (NZ/IONIQ 5 has indoor socket in the front boot)
• Kia EV6 and EV9 - 3.6 kW via adaptor
• Kia EV5 - V2L standard across all variants
• Genesis GV60
• BYD Atto 3 and Seal - V2L via adaptor

Tesla vehicles do not currently offer V2L in Australia.

Practical uses

The obvious use case is camping or worksites where mains power isn’t available. A fully charged 77 kWh battery running a 3.6 kW load continuously would last around 18 hours before hitting the 20% SoC buffer. In practice, nobody runs an EV flat in the field - using a fraction of the battery for a weekend away costs very little in energy terms.

Beyond recreation, V2L has proved useful during power outages for running essential household appliances temporarily. It’s not as capable as a proper home battery backup - you’re limited to the ~3.6 kW output rate, so you can’t run an entire house at full load - but keeping the fridge, lights, and router alive during a blackout is practical.

How it differs from V2H and V2G

V2L is self-contained: the output goes directly to a device or appliance. It doesn’t integrate with your home’s electrical system. V2H and V2G both discharge the battery back into the home’s wiring or the grid - which requires specific bidirectional charging hardware, network approval for V2G, and different connector standards. V2L is much simpler to enable and has no regulatory requirements beyond what’s already approved for the vehicle.