Car-donnay: Electric vehicle powers winery

Vineyard owner Joseph Evans is no longer whining about his power bill.

The founder of Ballycroft Vineyard in South Australia's Barossa Valley has become the first person in the country to power his business from solar energy stored in his electric car.

And power harvested by his Nissan Leaf during the trial is so far delivering a rich bounty.

Companies behind the groundbreaking pilot will invite more electric vehicle owners to use the technology within weeks, in a move industry experts say could deliver lower power bills and support Australia's electricity grid.

Mr Evans, a passionate Nissan Leaf electric car owner, signed up to a trial by the South Australian Power Network.

He said electricity bills for the winery used to cost $6000 a year, and were still $2000 a year even after installing solar panels. 

But Mr Evans said that by using an electric vehicle to store solar energy and power his business overnight, he was now making money instead of spending it on electricity.

"It is the holy grail of EV ownership," he said.

"We make nearly $3000 a year by putting a little bit of power back in the grid.

"Our solar completely runs our whole property - runs the pumps for the vineyard, runs the rainwater pumps for the house - so we're completely self-sufficient."

Mr Evans said he used his Nissan Leaf to make wine deliveries during the day, returned to charge its battery from solar panels at midday, and used it to power the winery overnight.

A wall-mounted charger from Victorian firm JET Charge managed electricity coming and going from the vehicle, and the company will open orders for the Wallbox Quasar hardware to South Australian consumers in late January.

JET Charge founder Tim Washington said the winery project was a fun way to show how vehicle-to-grid technology worked, but when widely available it could help many households cut power bills. 

"It's cool that it's a winery, but it's actually a demonstration of how bi-directional charging will just fit into our everyday lives and we won't need to think of it as a project," he said.

"You'll plug your EV into the power and that's pretty much it. And the low barrier to entry once we pass all the technical issues means the adoption will be swifter than people think."

However, users will need a compatible vehicle to use the technology,  and only the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi plug-in hybrid currently support it in Australia.

Nissan electrification national manager Ben Warren said more car makers should support the technology because vehicle batteries were designed to cope with "extreme" demands, and powering homes did not demand the same "swings".

"For the customer, the benefit is reducing your energy bill," Mr Warren said. 

"For the grid, it's also a pretty big bonus.

"All of a sudden our cars have gone from something that sits in our driveway, doing nothing, to being more connected in our lives."