“We know V2G works:” Biggest commercial vehicle-to-grid trial to test revenues lines for government EV fleet

ARENA announced a $5.35 million trial with Jet Charge, AGL and the ACT government to test vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology across up to 130 electric vehicles over three years. The trial, called REVS2, will deploy bi-directional chargers on a government fleet used for in-home health services. Vehicles parked overnight at ACT government buildings would discharge stored battery power back into the grid during evening peak demand, with the aim of generating revenue while reducing grid stress. ARENA is funding $4.1 million of the project; Jet Charge contributes $1.25 million. This follows a residential V2G expansion by Amber Electric and a 2020 ARENA pilot testing whether the technology could work at all.

Where this fits

V2G addresses a real reliability problem: a grid built on weather-dependent renewables needs flexibility to match supply to demand across hours and seasons. However, the trial itself concedes the gap between theory and operation. The Jet Charge manager stated explicitly: "We have to move beyond 'This is what it looks like in a best-case scenario' to 'How does it actually work in the real world?'." V2G is not yet proven at scale for commercial revenue. It also assumes widespread EV adoption and disciplined charging behaviour, both still uncertain. This is a bet that batteries can firming load-following rather than a firm power source. Until deployed at grid scale, V2G remains a flexibility tool, not a substitute for dispatchable generation.

What it means

A working V2G fleet could reduce peak demand and defer transmission investment, lowering whole-system cost. But the trial's framing, "is it a given?" that V2G works commercially, signals the technology is years from proven, let alone scaled. Australia is building a renewable grid that depends on such unproven flexibility mechanisms while firm generation sources are excluded by policy. That concentrates risk and extends the timeline for reliable, affordable decarbonisation.