this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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21
Labor will announce home battery rebate in “coming days,” says federal treasurer (reneweconomy.com.au)
submitted 6 days ago by kudra to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Apparently the subsidy requires you to be connected to a "virtual power plant" plan with your energy company, which means that they control when your battery feeds back in to the grid or can be used by you. This is pretty much a deal breaker for me and should be for most people.

What it means is that the power company could force your battery to send its power to the grid at peak times, meaning any power you use comes from the grid, and your battery gets drained without them paying you a cent. It means that you could potentially not save a single cent on your power bill, while saving the power company money.

[–] kudra 1 points 1 day ago

I'm with Amber, and while I don't have a battery yet, their VPP offering does appear different to most. I'd be wanting to check the conditions if this goes ahead as I would not want to sign up if I wasn't allowed to control when power is sent to to the grid.

https://help.amber.com.au/hc/en-us/articles/7415148284685-What-is-Amber-s-SmartShift-and-how-does-it-differ-from-a-VPP

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Hopefully they’re decent rebates on decent battery systems, and not means tested so only the low income earners would qualify (but couldn’t afford anyway).

Every year I run the numbers to see if it makes sense to get batteries, and every year it doesn’t. Would love to go completely off grid.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I am very keen for batteries. We have 20'ish kw of solar and so much is wasted because of export limits. If I could pump all that waste in to a battery to use over the peak period of an afternoon/evening we'd greatly reduce our bills.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Grab a new V2H/V2G charger as they start to come out and add it to an ecar.

https://zecar.com/reviews/bidirectional-v2h-and-v2g-ev-chargers-guide

The batteries on ecars are massive in conparison to home battieries.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Got an EV too - 85kw'ish of battery ready to roll.

Would love to soak it up over peak period, then recharge it overnight at off peak rates. Doing that alone would be a big saving.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/redearth-bidirectional-chargers-mb3054/

Was interested in this one as

Through a partnership agreement with ambibox, RedEarth will produce the devices from its facility at Darra in Brisbane’s south-west suburbs – the first company to manufacture (assemble?) bi-directional chargers locally.

But have to see how it compares

The Ambibox DC Wallbox is a flexible bidirectional charger supporting both V2G and V2H applications. It offers up to 22kW of charging power. It has even been used in experimental setups to enable bidirectional charging in vehicles not originally designed for it—such as the Tesla Model Y. It’s ideal for both residential and commercial use.

This is interesting

The Ambibox unit has been able to successfully discharge energy from several EV models during testing:

Tesla Model Y BYD Atto 3 Polestar 2 Volvo EX30

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

I wonder if this will also include extra subsidies for electric vehicles which support bidirectional charging. Could really help push for an increase in electric vehicle uptake if you can also use it as a battery overnight.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Hope this'll be better regulated than the pink batts. Otherwise it's not gonna be a good time when people opt for the cheapest batteries and cheapest tradies.

[–] Kanzar 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Statistically, how did the pink batt scheme fall short of your expectations/hopes?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

They interviewed this guy in a van on today tonight. /s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

"You wanna buy some speakers or what? The client ordered them and I can sell em to you now for cheap."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

I liked the idea.. But, I have a massive pile of pink batts sitting above my bedroom at the moment (from before I bought the house). And they're likely so compressed now, they're unusable (I plan to replace them with cross thatched insulation to reduce sound from outside, as I only have blow in at the moment)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is something I've been waiting for, for ages, and is the reason I didn't get any previously (because the interest free loan didn't make sense, because of the risk of batteries dropping faster than any savings from the loan)

If it's a good deal, I'll likely buy more Solar panels too and double them from 6.6kw (5kw inverter).

Obviously, wouldn't be buying a tesla powerwall, but ideally something AC coupled still (so really hoping BYD makes something like that)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I am want to sell my jeep.. Been waiting for a 4wd which is cheap enough though, with enough range. Don't need towing capacity at all, but need the capabilities if things go to crap (I operate a hiking group, and at least 1 or 2 overnight trips we went on, the weather turned to complete crap the next day and we needed high clearance to get out of it.. But places like Falls Creek at 450km from me (so 900 round trip), so range is somewhat important too, but I do accept that on the way home from some of these things, I might charge

Ideally want an EV though with enough range. Of its a Hybrid, I'd only need something with only a tiny pissy petrol engine, for emergency use that can be disabled mostly.

Really, no idea why people wouldn't want an EV if one suited

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

if one suited

This is why not everyone wants one. EVs are great and I’d love to get one as my next car, but they don’t cover everyone’s needs at every price point, and most people don’t have the ability to charge them at any useful speed thanks to the power infrastructure. There’s also the issue of the second hand market - no one wants to buy a second hand electric car, but most people understand that buying a brand new car is a fools game.

[–] kudra 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I have bought two secondhand electric cars and about to buy my third. Most people still don't understand this isn't quite as risky as it appears.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It costs half the price of a new EV to replace the battery. Buying a second hand EV means you have no idea how the battery has been treated, and you know the clock is already ticking until you have to shell out a massive amount of $ for a new battery.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

@Whirlybird @kudra
The condition of a used EV depends on how it's been treated. EVs are not alone in that.

In general, the battery of a modern EV can be expected to last for the useful life of the vehicle. "... scientists discovered that battery replacements were very rare, with only about 1.5 percent of EVs needing a replacement – and almost all of those replacements were under warranty."
https://www.greencars.com/expert-insights/research-shows-ev-battery-replacements-very-rare

#ElectricVehicles
#EVbatteries

[–] kudra 1 points 1 day ago

Correct, new EVs have even better batteries than first gen too. My first EV I replaced the battery, but not because they're was anything wrong with it: that battery likely would have lasted at least twice as long, but an enterprising engineer created a battery upgrade that doubled the original range in the same footprint, and we can expect further improvements in batteries, so I expect to upgrade again in future, maybe 10-15 years, and double the range again.

Old EV batteries can be reused and make ideal off grid house batteries.

[–] kudra 1 points 1 day ago

Have you actually bought a second hand EV?

[–] kudra 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I think it's taking longer for bidirectional to be legal in most parts of Australia, though that might be happening soon. V2G is going to be a game changer for reducing dependence on coal, can't come soon enough!

[–] kudra 1 points 5 days ago

Haha just read the article, it's great to see the approval but appalling we apparently have zero compatible cars. I have a JDM grey import with Chademo and that tech has been bidirectional for over a decade. So dumb.