Apartment living can be counter-intuitive to EV ownership. Many complexes and homes with street parking don't have the infrastructure in place to support plugging in your car every night, and most renters don't want to pay thousands of dollars to install it.
That's the same pickle Angela Morley and her spouse found themselves in when they purchased a Hyundai Ioniq 5. They came up with a quick and easy solution to their charging problem: buy another Ioniq 5 to use as a giant power bank on wheels.
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Rising Popularity Of V2X
Major automakers are turning their cars into power banks on wheels and consumers are loving it. From powering their homes during storms, to charging tools at work sites, and serving as a glamping accessory, the feature turns most modern EVs into a tool outside of driving. So why not try it out for charging other EVs?
"We own two Ioniq 5s, and we're in an apartment," wrote Angela Morley in a Hyundai Ioniq 5 group on Facebook. "Unfortunately, that means we can't get charging at home (I did have a quote done... It was not feasible). But what I can do is get free charging from work."
Morley says that after filling up on free electrons at work, she utilizes the Ioniq's onboard 1.8-kilowatt Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) function to transfer that energy to her partner's vehicle, also an Ioniq 5, overnight using a V2L adapter and a 120-volt Level 1 charger. During a full night of charging, Morley confirms she can transfer about 23% of energy from one vehicle to another.
"This works really great for us, especially since it's essentially free electricity gathered from work," she said.
Now, sure, this is a pretty inefficient method of charging. However, with the free electricity at Morley's work, she says that efficiency isn't her top concern. She can squeeze some extra juice into her spouse's ride and then top off at work to do it all over again.
The pair also make use of public charging as well. Morley says that her spouse can DC Fast Charge up to 80% and then rely on her Ioniq 5 to trickle in the rest of the charge to fill up the battery.
Just in case you doubted how effective Morley's solution is, she says that both she and her spouse are heavy users of the Ioniq 5. They both drive for Uber and drive their vehicles more than 50,000 miles per year. They're already budgeting for a battery replacement.
At 56,000 miles, she says that her car's Battery Management System still reports that the battery's state of health is still at 100%, so she has plenty of time. For now, they and drive their two EVs effectively for free, all without using home charging. That's a hell of a setup.
