At IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich, Volkswagen Group subsidiary Elli introduced a pilot project for bidirectional charging in private homes. The initiative allows electric vehicle (EV) batteries to power homes and work alongside solar power systems.
The pilot features an 11 kW bidirectional charger developed with CUBOS, a sustainable energy solutions provider. This charger connects home solar installations and EVs through a modular software platform designed by Elli. Using the Elli Charging app, users can manage energy from the grid, their vehicles, and their homes.
Elli says that smart bidirectional home charging could lower customer charging costs under certain conditions by up to 75 percent. It also offers the potential for greater independence from the electricity grid when combined with self-generated solar power.
Volkswagen Group customers and those of solar panel provider OTOVO can now apply for participation in Elli’s pilot program, which will start in Germany in December 2025. Selected participants will receive a DC bidirectional charger as part of the project.
Certain Volkswagen Group EVs built on the MEB platform—including select Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, and CUPRA models equipped with ID. Software 3.5 or higher and 77 kWh batteries—are already technically able to support DC bidirectional charging.
Volkswagen Group is conducting innovation projects across Europe to study how bidirectional charging can be scaled regionally. In Sweden, for example, a testing campus was established in 2021 with the Stenberg housing cooperative to evaluate technical aspects and CO₂ impacts of vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid charging.
Elli aims to bring bidirectional charging to market maturity throughout Europe by scaling hardware and software integration on the customer side while supporting harmonized legislation across EU member states.
The new ecosystem ties into Elli’s Managed Battery Network (MBN), which functions as a virtual power plant optimizing renewable energy use by storing electricity at specific times for later wholesale trading on energy markets such as EPEX intraday power exchange.
Giovanni Palazzo, CEO of Elli, stated: “With our pilot project at IAA Mobility 2025, we’re opening a new chapter in the history of electric mobility. Bidirectional charging is the enabler of energy self-sufficiency at home, and with the initial rollout of our Managed Battery Network, we are elevating vehicle batteries and storage systems to the level of critical energy resources. In doing so, we’re bridging the gap between mobility and energy.”
By decade’s end, Elli plans to integrate large-scale storage systems along with hundreds of thousands of EV batteries into its Managed Battery Network across Europe. This network would coordinate storage capacities via its own trading platform to help make better use of renewable energy sources.
Starting in 2026, several hundred decentralized EVs will be connected for the first time to a virtual power plant (VPP), after which their flexibility will be marketed through Elli’s own trading operations.
In addition to residential projects, Elli is entering large-scale energy storage with its new PowerCenter facility in Salzgitter scheduled for completion this December. The site will have a capacity of 20 MW/40 MWh using LFP battery packs from PowerCo and serve both as an energy trading platform and future grid services provider.
This move marks Elli’s expansion into new areas within the broader energy value chain as it seeks to become a key supplier of flexible energy solutions across Europe.
