The world’s biggest carmaker is aiming to be a major power player – via electric vehicle batteries.

Chief strategist Michael Jost told journalists that VW is aiming to amass 350GWh of storage at its disposal by 2025, Reuters reports.

By 2030 the total would grow to 1 terawatt hour, he suggested.

“We can guarantee that the energy will be used and stored and this will be a new area of business”, said Jost. Grid balancing is a preferred option.

VW announced last year its intention to launch Elli, its branded energy company, supported by a €30billion investment in the next five years in e-mobility and V2G.

Nissan told The Energyst last year that the storage within its 400,000 Leaf vehicles already represented “about 4 gigawatts already connected to the grid,” if all were connected via 10kW bi-directional chargers.

Meanwhile Honda is pushing in that direction, with BMW also trialling V2G.

Energy companies have suggested that electric vehicles could provide as much as 11GW of flexibility in the UK alone by 2030.

Interested in smart charging and vehicle to grid? Then be sure to attend The Energyst’s free EV event, 27-28 October, Silverstone. Details here.

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