Some Tesla Model 3s and Model Ys Can Now Power Some Homes with New V2H Bidirectional Charging
- Tesla’s Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV finally get Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) bidirectional charging, something the Cybertruck already offers.
- Not all new 3s and Ys are compatible, as the feature requires a specific new piece of hardware.
- For either model to feed electricity to a home, the dwelling must have one of Tesla Energy's Powerwall 3 home battery backup systems and a compatible Tesla Wall Connector.
Tesla’s Model 3 and Y finally get V2H bidirectional charging, something the Cybertruck already offers. However, not all new 3s and Ys are compatible, as the feature requires a specific new piece of hardware.
For either model to feed electricity to a home, the dwelling must have one of Tesla Energy’s Powerwall 3 home battery backup systems and a compatible Tesla Wall Connector.
Tesla’s rolling changes keep coming. Just a few days after the automaker announced some improvements to the Model 3—a bigger touchscreen for all variants, improved acceleration for some, and a range boost for the Performance—the company’s energy arm quietly announced the addition of a long-awaited feature. For the first time, both the Model 3 and Model Y are now capable of vehicle-to-home (V2H) bidirectional charging.
Additional Hardware Required
The addition of Powershare Home Backup was revealed in an X post from Tesla Energy—vertical integration! Tesla says that all Model 3 and Model Y vehicles ordered in the U.S. after October 1 will have the capability, as will some others that left the factory prior. To check if a particular car can be used in a power outage, owners can check Powershare Support under the Software menu’s Additional Vehicle Information screen.
The necessary hardware behind the functionality is a new inverter called PCS2 Lite. (PCS stands for Power Conversion System.) It’s related to the inverter that allows the Cybertruck to do V2H, the plain PCS2, but carries one important difference: While the Cybertruck can also supply power directly to a home, the Model 3 and Model Y require Tesla's Powerwall 3 home battery hardware and either a Tesla Universal Wall Connector or Gen 3 Wall Connector. (Support for older Powerwall versions is said to be “coming soon.”) A Powerwall 3 installation can run well into five figures, depending on the home, so this isn’t a cheap prerequisite if you don’t already have one.
Unlike some other EV-powered backup systems, Tesla’s Powerwall includes a battery on the home side, so the vehicle’s pack acts as a sort of backup to that backup. In the event of an outage, once the Powerwall’s battery is depleted, the vehicle simultaneously supplies electricity to the home and recharges the Powerwall pack. With this arrangement, you don’t have to feel like your car is tethered to your home indefinitely until the end of an outage.
