- Kia EV9 owners in the United States will soon be able to power their homes from the SUV’s battery.
- To use the feature, a bidirectional charger from Wallbox is required.
Kia EV9 owners in the United States will soon be able to use their EVs high-voltage battery pack to power their houses during outages thanks to the magic of vehicle-to-home integration. Furthermore, owners can take advantage of low energy rates by powering their house from the car’s battery when rates are high and replenish the battery when energy is cheap. Solar integration is also possible.
All this being said, there is a caveat: one cannot simply hook a cable to the EV9’s charging port and be done with it. A bidirectional charger is required to enable all these features, and the only compatible unit in the United States right now is the Wallbox Quasar 2.
Wallbox said it is now taking pre-orders for the charger with deliveries set to begin in June. The electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) has several features including vehicle-to-home, vehicle-to-grid, solar charging and dynamic load management. It has a CCS1 connector, so it supports both AC and DC charging.
Whether it’s charging the EV or extracting energy from the battery and sending it to the house or the grid, the Quasar 2 can handle up to 12.48 kilowatts on AC and up to 12.8 kW on DC. Wallbox showcased the bidirectional charger’s capabilities a year ago, (video embedded below) but the product will be ready for prime time this summer.
“We’re thrilled to open pre-order availability of the innovative Quasar 2 charger, including the Power Recovery Unit, to eligible Kia EV9 drivers,” said Enric Asunción, CEO of Wallbox. “This cutting-edge technology allows eligible EV9 owners and lessees to take control of their energy usage and costs, while also providing backup power during power outages.”
As a reminder, the Kia EV9 comes with either a 76.1 or 99.8-kilowatt-hour battery. When fully charged, the small pack could sustain an entire house for three days assuming a daily energy use of 25 kWh, while the big pack could go for almost four days.
The Wallbox bundle includes the Quasar 2 bidirectional charger and something called a Power Recovery Unit. According to the EVSE supplier, the bundle is eligible for a tax credit of up to $1,000. Pre-orders are currently limited to residents of California, Texas, Florida, New York, Washington, New Jersey and Illinois, with a nationwide rollout to follow.
