- The 2026 Tesla Model Y Performance officially supports vehicle-to-load (V2L), which is sometimes called bidirectional charging.
- Using an adapter that’s sold separately, owners can export energy from the car’s high-voltage battery to power tools or appliances.
- The refreshed Model Y Performance is the second Tesla EV to officially support V2L, after the Cybertruck.
The new Tesla Model Y Performance, which went on sale in the United States on September 30, officially supports vehicle-to-load (V2L). This means that owners of the refreshed sporty Model Y will be able to export energy from the car’s high-voltage battery to power tools or appliances through an adapter that’s sold separately.
Tesla confirmed the 2026 Model Y Performance officially supports V2L in a comment on X. The company replied to another person who posted a Grok AI-generated response that said the car supported both vehicle-to-load and vehicle-to-home (V2H). The features are not listed on the company’s website, nor were they present among the list of features posted when the car debuted a couple of days ago, but I guess that’s how one of the biggest EV makers in the world rolls nowadays.
To be clear, Tesla’s reply states that the refreshed Model Y Performance only supports vehicle-to-load through the Tesla Outlet Adapter. The $80 adapter plugs into the latest generation Mobile Connector, which in turn plugs into the car’s charging port. With this setup, the Model Y Performance can output a maximum of 120 volts at 20 amps to a pair of household outlets, for a total of 2.4 kilowatts.
The feature has long been present on EVs made by Hyundai, Kia, Ford and General Motors. Despite being at the forefront of the electric car industry, Tesla has been extremely slow in implementing the feature, at least officially. The Cybertruck became the first Tesla EV to offer both V2L and V2H when it debuted in 2019, with the refreshed Model Y Performance now joining the party, albeit just on the vehicle-to-load front.
With vehicle-to-home, an EV can power an entire house during an outage. Theoretically, the Cybertruck can be plugged into the main electrical panel through a Powerwall battery storage system to keep the lights on when the grid goes down. With vehicle-to-load, output is limited to a lower power level.
All this being said, there are unofficial ways to access the V2L functionality of several Tesla vehicles, not just the latest Model Y Performance. Keep in mind that using anything other than an official adapter could void your warranty.
