Wallbox’s Quasar Can Charge Your Electric Vehicle Or Use It To Power Your Home

A number of companies have experimented with bidirectional charging, but Wallbox is taking it mainstream thanks to their Quasar charger which was introduced at CES.

Billed as the “world’s first bidirectional EV charger for the home,” the unit will not only charge electric vehicles but also take energy from them. This energy can then be fed back into the electrical grid or used to power your home.

This makes the charger pretty interesting as you could your use electric vehicle to power your house in the case of an emergency. The charger could also pay for itself as it allows energy companies to take power from your EV when demand is high. These companies would then pay you, similar to how they pay homeowners for getting power from solar panels.

Also Read: Nissan Wants To Turn EVs Into Mobile Battery Packs

While bidirectional charging is nothing new, Wallbox says these chargers were large, designed for fleets and cost three times as much as a standard charger. To address these problems, the company’s engineers came up with a consumer-oriented model which is sleek, highly efficient and available at a “significantly lower price.”

The company wasn’t ready to say how much it will cost, but a mobile app allows owners to easily manage their power usage. The app will also allow users to set limits on how much power can be taken from their EV, so drivers won’t have to worry about finding their battery fully depleted.

On the tech side of things, the charger can be equipped with optional facial recognition technology. This allows owners to give friends and neighbors access to the charger, if it’s mounted outside.

The company didn’t go into too many specifics, but Engadget reports the Quasar is a Level 2 charger that is compatible with Type 1 and CHAdeMO connectors. That’s a bonus, but the publication says the only models that support bidirectional charging are the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.