Audi Tests Electric Car With Bi-Directional Charging

One of the reasons for creating electric cars is to help reduce the negative impact of mining for fossil fuels that power more traditional cars. Combine that with solar panels that can generate energy to charge our electric cars and it seems like a winning scenario, but now Audi wants to take things one step further with bi-directional charging.

What this means is that potential electric cars made by Audi in the future will have the ability to act as a secondary power source of sorts. For example, if you have a home equipped with solar panels, excess energy generated by this panels can then be stored inside of the car’s battery pack which can then be used later to power your home or to use it as a generator in the event that the power goes out.

It could also be used as an extension of the energy grid by absorbing excess energy during non-peak periods of usage, and then release it back to the grid during peak periods of usage. In simpler terms, it is kind of like reverse charging on smartphones, where your phone’s batteries can be used to help charge smaller items like wireless earbuds or even another smartphone instead of pulling extra energy from the grid.

That being said, Audi is only testing out the technology which means that we are not sure if or when such a system would be implemented for real. However, it is an intriguing idea and a rather smart one that we wouldn’t mind seeing more of in the future.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Green, Home, Transportation
Tags: audi, Electric Cars, Social Hit