British energy company OVO Energy has used a recent press event in London to unveil some new intelligent home electric vehicle chargers, including the world's first domestically available vehicle to grid charger, that could allow EV owners to "never pay to be on the road again."

OVO's vehicle to grid charger can charge and discharge electric vehicles at a rate of 6kW and will use the company's new intelligent VCharge technology - more on that later - to take advantage of periods when electricity is cheaper, saving money for owners. But the charger can also sell electricity from an EV, back into the grid in times of high demand and pay owners for any electricity taken.

OVO Energys vehicle-to-grid charger could let you drive an EV for free image 2
Clean Energy News

Money earned could effectively cancel out money spent on electricity to charge the vehicle, and OVO expects owners of its V2G charger to save more than £250 a year. 

The chargers will initially be made available for free to 1,000 Nissan Leaf owners over a two year trial period, with funding coming from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The chargers will work with any electricity supplier, but OVO has said the smart functionalities and discharging feature will only be available to those signed up to OVO Energy.

Also announced at the event was VCharge, OVO Energy's proprietary new intelligent technology. VCharge constantly monitors the electrical grid and is able to react to supply and demand whenever and wherever it's needed. This means it can adjust the flow of electricity to devices during peak periods, or it can take advantage when there's less stress on the grid, to provide its customers with cheaper electricity.

OVO also announced a new 7kW EV charger for the home that uses the VCharge technology to control and charge vehicles during off-peak periods to help save owners money. OVO will announce pricing for the 7kW EV charger later this year.