Volvo is taking all precautions to prevent people from calling the future EX90 a revised and electric XC90. Its leaked patent images, the silhouette Volvo recently presented, and how different they are from the Embla's images we've seen so far show the new EV is an XC90 derivative that will live with the company's new flagship. For the EX90 to remain attractive, the Swedish brand is giving it capabilities no other Volvo has presented so far. One of them is bidirectional charging, which you are more used to reading about as vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G). The EX90 will offer both.
Volvo states the electric car will manage to power “an outdoor cooking appliance for your weekend camping trip” as well as “discharge energy when electricity prices are higher,” either to feed a house or to sell electricity back to the grid. In most places, that is not economically advantageous, especially if you have solar panels. Power companies pay you less than they will charge other customers for obvious reasons. You’d better store the clean energy and use it when the power company wants to charge you higher fares.
The problem with this approach is that a battery pack has a limited lifespan, generally calculated in cycles (complete charges). The more you charge and discharge the battery pack in your car, the less it will last. There is a significant risk that you will use this component more to deliver energy back to the grid or your home than driving the EX90.
Volvo said it would make sure to “charge and discharge the battery in a limited way, reducing the risk of avoidable battery degradation.” Mind the wording: it will prevent what is avoidable, not the battery degradation that naturally happens with multiple cycles. When you consider that a new battery pack will cost you around $20,000 or more to replace, it may be a bad idea to use your EV as a mobile power bank.
Regardless of what EX90 owners decide to do, having bidirectional charging is very useful, especially in emergencies. It is reassuring to know your car may power your house during an extended power shortage or that you can charge another EV with it. Expect the Embla – the XC90’s genuine replacement – and other future Volvo EVs to have the same capability.
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