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Bidirectional charging: Your car as home battery: what's been legal since January 2026

Bidirectional charging: Your car as home battery: what's been legal since January 2026

Ivan Miric·

A Tesla Model Y carries 75 kWh. A BYD Atto 3 carries 60. A typical home battery holds 10. The math on which one is the bigger battery is not subtle.

What was missing until now was the legal frame. Since 1 January 2026, it is in place.

What changed in law

Three points made the difference in 2026:

  • Bidirectional charging points count as storage. Same rules and incentives as stationary batteries.
  • Grid-fee refund. Power that was fed in and later drawn back can be reclaimed from the grid operator, provided the metering holds up.
  • V2G is regulated. Feeding the public grid has its own compensation basis. Before, that was a grey zone.

V2H, V2G, V2L, briefly

  • V2H (Vehicle-to-Home): the car powers your house. The variant with the clearest business case.
  • V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid): the car feeds the public grid and gets paid. Interesting for grid services, but technically and contractually heavier.
  • V2L (Vehicle-to-Load): the car powers a single device, camping, tools, backup. Already legal for a while.

The math for a single-family home

If you are planning a 10 kWp solar system in 2026, compare honestly:

  • 10 kWh stationary battery: ~CHF 8'000–12'000 installed, covers one evening.
  • V2H wallbox: ~CHF 5'000–8'000 (wallbox + controller), uses the car battery as storage, if the car supports V2H.

If you already drive a bidirectional EV or are buying one, V2H is often cheaper. The list of V2H-capable cars is growing fast in 2026. Hyundai Ioniq 5/6, Kia EV6, Volvo EX90, Renault 5/Megane, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, plus several Chinese models.

Watch-outs

Four points from the field:

  • Standard: CCS with ISO 15118-20 is the future. CHAdeMO is on its way out. Match the standard between car and wallbox.
  • Warranty: Some carmakers exclude V2H, others count the cycles. Read the fine print before you buy.
  • An AC wallbox is not enough. V2H needs a bidirectional DC wallbox. Existing AC units cannot be upgraded.
  • Energy management: Solar, home battery, V2H and the heat pump need to talk. An open controller (Modbus, EEBUS) pays back fast.

Free State integrates V2H wallboxes into the solar and storage design. Under SolarFree the wallbox is optional, as a fixed-price add-on.

Have us plan your setup.

Sources: Swiss Federal Office of Energy (energeiaplus), CKW, EnergieSchweiz, Helion. As of April 2026. Information without guarantee.