Jaguar Land Rover will supply cars for tests on the viability of using electric vehicles to charge each other or even send power back to the grid.
Unveiling over £5 million of public funding on Wednesday, the government backed four schemes looking at how electric vehicles could be used as sources of power.
Just over £1 million was granted to a scheme looking how such cars can be used to charge each other, with Jaguar Land Rover providing vehicles for testing after Hyundai, Kia and MG models have been found compatible.
British firms, led by renewable energy firm 3ti, will also study how electric vehicles could offer a solution to mitigate low supply from UK power stations.
Through the ‘V2X FastHub’ demonstration, itself backed by £1.3 million in public funding, the companies will aim to prove electric vehicles worth as assets for the energy grid.
“Connected vehicles will be teamed together to act as virtual power and energy storage facilities,” 3ti chief technical officer explained, “with each car releasing and replenishing its stored energy according to user preferences and grid demand”.
“This generates income and cost savings, which can be passed on to our customers.”