Can your electric car power your house with V2H?

Yes, an electric car can power a house with vehicle-to-home (V2H), but in Belgium this is still at an early stage. Few cars and chargers are certified, and the car is only useful when it is parked at home. For back-up you can count on, a fixed home battery does the daily work and the car adds energy when it is there. On a farm or a large site, a semi off-grid system can be prepared for V2H from day one.

You have solar panels, a heat pump and an electric car with a battery far bigger than most home batteries. So why buy a home battery at all? One owner shared an offer on a forum: "maak van je auto een batterij" (make your car a battery). The first reply was sober: only a limited number of cars is actually supported. Another owner ran his boiler and fridge from his car during an outage. His heat pump, he wrote, cannot run from a normal plug.

What most offers do not say is where the car is when you need it. On a sunny weekday the car is at work, so it cannot store your solar power. In a power cut at night it may be half empty after a long drive. And a charger bought today may not work with your next car. That is an expensive wall box that only moves power one way.

On a farm in Wingene we designed the energy system with this in mind. The battery delivers 3 x 400 V at 63 A on its own. The new electric car will charge in both directions, so in a shortage its battery can serve as a home battery.

What is bidirectional charging, and how do V2L, V2H and V2G differ?

Bidirectional charging means power can flow from the charger to the car and back from the car to your house or the grid. An ordinary charger only works one way. What you can do with the power coming back depends on the type.

For V2H and V2G, the car and the charger must exchange data all the time to decide how much power can safely go back. This can happen with AC or DC chargers. With AC, the inverter sits in the car; with DC, it sits in the charger, which is more flexible but usually more expensive.

Is bidirectional charging allowed in Belgium?

Yes, but under the same grid rules as solar inverters and home batteries. The charger must be approved by Synergrid, the federation of Belgian grid operators, and the installation must be agreed with your grid operator.

• Approved charger: makers of bidirectional chargers must have them approved by Synergrid.
• Report and inspect (Flanders): Fluvius says every bidirectional charger must be reported and inspected. For a small installation a report is enough; otherwise Fluvius runs a grid study first.
• Other regions: in Wallonia and Brussels, ask ORES, RESA or Sibelga before you buy.
• Communication standard: ISO 15118 defines how a car and a charger talk safely about charging and sending power back.

In practice, few systems are fully certified for sending power back from a car today, according to KBC Autolease in April 2026. Pilots in Utrecht, Kortrijk and Ghent show that it works. Commercial use is still held back by certification, software limits and legal questions.

Which cars can power a house with V2H?

Only a handful of cars can charge in both directions today, and each one works only with specific chargers. The Flemish government names the newer Nissan Leaf, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6 as examples.

V2L is much more common. KBC Autolease lists it on Kia and Hyundai models such as the EV9, EV3 and Ioniq 6. The Renault 5 E-Tech and several BYD, MG and Stellantis models have it too. A V2L socket does not make a car V2H-ready. V2H also needs a matching bidirectional charger and software that allows it.

Some car makers still work with closed systems, where bidirectional charging only works with their own charger or energy manager. Some also limit how much energy may go back, to protect the car battery. So check three things with the car maker before you buy: V2H in Belgium, which charger, and any limit on energy or years.

Can you plug your car's V2L socket into the house during a power cut?

No. V2L may only feed appliances plugged directly into the car or into an extension lead. The Flemish government is explicit: there may never be a connection between the car and the fixed household installation.

Owners of a Victron system ask about exactly this: feed the car's V2L socket into the inverter input, like a small generator. It sounds clever. But it connects the car to the fixed installation, which is not allowed, and every conversion loses energy on the way.

What V2L does well is simple: a cable from the car to the fridge or the freezer in a long outage. For the heat pump, the pumps and the rest of the house, you need a real back-up. Our guide to a home battery with backup power explains the three levels of back-up.

Can your electric car replace a home battery?

Not for most large homes: the car adds energy, but a fixed home battery is always there. The difference is not the size of the battery, it is where the battery is at the moment you need it.

The Flemish government says it is not yet clear what bidirectional charging does to the car battery. More cycles wear it; more use could also keep it in good shape. You do not want your only back-up to depend on a question that research has not settled.

What does a Victron home battery add to a car that can power the house?

A Victron home battery forms its own grid when the street fails, and it controls where the power goes: house, battery, car or boiler. The car becomes one part of a system instead of the whole plan.

• Back-up within 20 milliseconds: in a power cut, the inverter takes over so fast that computers keep running.
• The important systems on the battery: we connect your main systems and equipment to the battery, so the household does not stop.
• Smart charging of the car: our software can slow down car charging when the house uses more at night.
• A generator as a last resort: with the GX controller, a back-up generator can start automatically.
• Room to grow: the battery modules are expandable, and the system can be three-phase.

In Wingene the grid is only the back-up: our charger switches it on when consumption is high or production low. In a semi off-grid home in Heusden-Zolder, the system is ready for an electric car that can later take an active part. In Hamme, a three-phase battery system with back-up stores the daytime solar power of a warehouse. In the evening it also charges the electric car.

Is the house three-phase and must everything keep running? Then read our guide to a three-phase home battery for full back-up, with the power per phase you need.

V2H now or a home battery first: what do you choose?

Choose a home battery first when back-up must work tomorrow. Wait for V2H only when the car is home most of the day and the whole chain is certified.

Not a fit for us: you only want to save the fridge in a rare outage. Then a V2L cable or a small power station is cheaper. We build fixed systems for homes that must keep running.

What should you ask before you buy a bidirectional charger?

Ask about the car, the approval and the power cut, in that order. A bidirectional charger is only worth its price when all three answers are yes.

How do we prepare a home or farm for V2H?

We build the back-up around a fixed battery and leave room for the car. That way the house runs today, and a V2H car can join the system when car, charger and rules are ready.

Take a look at the projects: Wingene, Heusden-Zolder and Hamme.

1. Step 1: We measure your consumption, your connection and when the car is at home.
2. Step 2: Together we decide what must keep running in a power cut, and on which phase.
3. Step 3: We size the home battery and the inverter, with an input for a generator where long outages are a risk.
4. Step 4: We install, commission and monitor the system in the free VRM app and portal. Our team has three certified battery specialists.

Our home batteries come with a 10-year warranty on retained power. Want to see what our home batteries with back-up can do next to your car? Or check first which home battery really works off-grid?