National Council decides: Use electric car batteries as electricity storage in the future!

National Council decides: Use electric car batteries as electricity storage in the future!

On November 19, 2025, the National Council in Austria unanimously adopted a significant motion for a resolution on the use of e-car batteries as electricity storage. This could revolutionize the way homes, businesses and governments manage their electricity consumption.

The proposal, supported by the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS parties, offers an opportunity to feed surpluses from e-car batteries into the power grid. These batteries have a high storage capacity and are idle for an average of 23 hours per day, making them attractive to use as an additional power source. However, there are challenges due to the lack of legal requirements for uniform, compatible charging systems and consumer protection. This also applies to the VKI (Association for Consumer Information), which was discussed in the National Council and which also plays an important role in consumer protection by processing over 80,000 inquiries.

Bidirectional charging: A new era for electric cars

The technology for bidirectional charging, which is already integrated in several electric car models, allows electric cars not only to obtain electricity, but also to feed it back into the grid. From January 1, 2026, the amended Energy Industry Act (EnWG) will come into force in Germany, which will create the legal framework for this. This could pave the way for wider acceptance and use of this technology. While over 1.65 million electric cars are already registered in Germany, the storage potential is estimated at up to 5.0 GWh.

Bidirectional charging includes different variants: Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) and Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), each adapted to specific requirements. This flexibility can help improve the integration of renewable energy such as solar and wind power by better coordinating supply and demand. Forecasts show that households could achieve annual savings of up to 700 euros by using V2H options.

Challenges and opportunities

However, there are some challenges standing in the way of implementation. In addition to the need for suitable vehicles and the development of bidirectional wallboxes, uniform technical standards are also required. Laws need to be adjusted to put electric cars on the same tax level as stationary battery storage systems, as taxes are currently incurred both when purchasing electricity and when feeding it back into the grid. In addition, high costs for the necessary technology in the car and the infrastructure in the home could hinder the growth of bi-directional charging.

The critics, including members of the FPÖ, are calling for a more decisive step towards uniform European standards in order to be able to fully exploit the potential of these new technologies. It remains to be seen how the funding for 2026 will be provided and how the political framework will be designed.

Overall, the use of e-car batteries as flexible electricity storage opens up a promising opportunity to stabilize and make the energy supply more flexible, both for private households and for society as a whole. However, the path to these innovations requires close cooperation from everyone involved, from politics to industry to consumers.

For more information on this topic, you can read the full reports from OTS, Ingenieur.de and ADAC visit.