Dive Brief:
Toyota is launching a residential 5.5 kWh battery storage system, which uses the company’s electric vehicle battery technology, the company announced on June 2. The small system can power a home day and night when connected to a photovoltaic rooftop system, encouraging solar installations, according to Toyota.
Homeowners with EVs capable of bidirectional electricity flows can provide supplemental power to their homes, including during outages. The storage system’s vehicle-to-grid capabilities also will provide “balancing in places where the grid system allows bidirectional charging,” providing power at “times of high energy use,” Toyota said in a press release.
Initially, the storage system will only be sold in Japan. Whether Toyota will expand sales to other countries and become a serious competitor to…