What is V2X? Vehicle to everything tech explained

Science-fiction has already given us a window into “vehicle to everything” technology, or V2X. All those movies where a car is communicating with the world around it are an example of V2X in action, albeit fictionalised.

What you might not know though is that this is only a small part of what V2X encompasses, and the term actually refers to a much broader range of technologies, some of which are already available in the cars you can buy today.

So we’ve put together a short explainer on V2X technology, which covers everything from those high-tech, data-sharing cars from the movies, to simpler and more immediately practical applications, such as being able to use your electric car’s battery to charge electrical devices, or even keep your home going during a power cut. Below, we explain what V2X tech is, what variations you’ll find in modern cars, and some of the benefits and drawbacks.

What is Vehicle to everything tech?

Vehicle to everything technology, abbreviated as V2X, is a catch-all term for several different technologies that will become common in the cars we drive in future. It actually covers quite a broad range of innovations, some of which are only tangentially related to others, so V2X may not mean the same for one car as it does for another.

We’ve focused on the most common V2X variations below, but there are a handful of more obscure ones in development, and there are sure to be more coming in future, too.

Vehicle to grid (V2G)

Vehicle to grid, or V2G, is one of the better-known V2X technologies and likely to become one of the most prevalent in the coming years. It effectively means using the power stored within electric vehicle batteries as grid storage, with local and national electricity grids being able to draw from that storage at peak times to meet demand, something known as “load levelling”. During times of lower demand, electric vehicles would recharge as normal, once again drawing their power from the grid.

Vehicle to home (V2H)

This is another development of the technology above, but specifically for providing power on a localised level. Vehicle to home for “V2H” tech means an electric car can be used as an electricity source for an individual house, be that for balancing demand in much the same way as V2G (powering a home in the evening when TVs, ovens, lights, and more, are in use, then recharging overnight when everyone is asleep), or as emergency backup in the case of a power cut. Since even smaller EV batteries store more energy than most homes use in several days, an EV could potentially keep the lights on during long power cuts, such as following natural disasters.

Vehicle to infrastructure (V2I)

Unlike V2G and V2H, vehicle to infrastructure or V2I isn’t predominantly an electric vehicle affectation. With V2I, cars can communicate with automotive infrastructure such as traffic lights, parking facilities, and traffic systems – and in turn, these systems can pass on knowledge to all vehicles in a particular area.

At its simplest, V2I means a car can let you know to ease off the accelerator so that a light turns green just before you arrive (Audi trialled the technology in its A1 e-tron prototype as long ago as 2013), or enact on-the-fly road toll payments. At its most complex and in-depth, it can manage traffic flow in real time by affecting both vehicles and local systems so that queues dissipate and vehicles are directed through the most efficient routes.

Vehicle to load (V2L)

Vehicle to load, V2L, is another predominantly electric vehicle-centric system which basically allows you to use your car as an enormous mobile power pack, like those small battery packs you can use to charge your phone while out and about. Several companies already offer V2L technology in EVs, primarily aimed at outdoorsy types, since you can use a car to say, run accessories at a campsite, charge up an e-bike, or supply power tools with electricity at a job site – it’s a feature in family cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, for example, as well as several electric pickup trucks in the US market.

Vehicle to vehicle (V2V)

Vehicle to vehicle technology, abbreviated as V2V, is similar in concept to V2I (vehicle to infrastructure) tech, but limited to data interactions between vehicles rather than the entire digital environment. Its primary aim is to make transportation both more efficient and safer, with short-range communication allowing all vehicles in a certain area to be aware of all other vehicles, from their location to their speed and direction.

It is potentially the technology that could allow truly autonomous driving, since an individual autonomous vehicle would no longer have to interpret what the cars around it are doing – it would already know by communicating with them, and those vehicles would know about the one you’re riding on board, too. V2V could also allow for technology such as ‘platooning’, where a train of vehicles could drive in close proximity on a motorway to the benefit of aerodynamics.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of V2X technology?

V2X technology isn’t yet offered in every vehicle so the benefits and drawbacks aren’t something most drivers will experience until much further down the line. But connected technologies like V2I and V2V in particular will need to be implemented in such a way their drawbacks are minimal if they’re to work effectively. More common V2L tech though certainly offers more benefits than drawbacks. Below, we’ve explored some of the positive and negative implications of V2X technology.

Benefits of V2X

The benefits of V2X technology effectively boil down to efficiency. Whenever a vehicle can communicate directly with another system it takes time and ambiguity out of a process compared to the same functions being performed by a human intermediary. Not that humans are being taken out of the process of course – V2X technology is at least partly for the benefit of the end user, be that an individual in the case of useful V2L functions, or society as a whole.

V2G could prove transformative to the way we generate and store power for instance, as renewable energy relies more on storage than traditional power generation methods that can be ramped up and turned down more quickly during peak times. Using an entire nation’s worth of EV batteries as grid storage potentially reduces the need for coal and gas power stations to remain online for peak times, which has obvious environmental benefits.

V2I and V2V tech meanwhile could result in huge improvements in road safety, and if it’s as effective as the companies exploring it claim, could bring an end to the idea of traffic jams - though there’s a long way to go before that becomes reality.

Drawbacks of V2X

Depending on the type of V2X technology, the main drawbacks include cost, reliability, and privacy concerns. The up-front cost of developing such technology, and in some cases the price that consumers have to pay for vehicles with V2L tech for instance, could be negated by the potential benefits – everything from road safety to individual convenience.

Reliability and privacy may prove to be bigger issues though. The struggle several companies are having with autonomous vehicle tech is a very clear example of complex, connected systems being much harder to implement in practice than they are in a laboratory – the world is a messy, complicated place, and expecting V2V technology to work flawlessly 100% of the time is both optimistic and unrealistic.

Privacy is an issue inherent to any discussion over the “internet of things”. In almost every V2X technology – V2L and some implementations of V2H possibly excepted – your vehicle becomes part of a large, interconnected network that will sometimes rely on personal data, and that always brings with it the risk of personal data being exposed. Whether consumers used to handing over their data without a thought on social media sites and smartphone apps will care or not is another matter…

What cars currently use V2X tech?

V2L is currently the most commonly available V2X tech in modern cars. It’s available on a large range of electric vehicles in the UK, including all BYD cars, most Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EVs, Volkswagen ID models, other Volkswagen Group EVs such as the Skoda Enyaq and Cupra Tavascan, several MGs, the Polestar 2 and 3, and the new Renault 5. In the United States, several electric pickups, including the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and Tesla Cybertruck have V2L.

Vehicle to home and vehicle to grid are both slightly less common, but becoming more so as the technology improves – the electric Renault 5 includes both, while others that offer both V2H and V2G include the Audi Q4 e-tron, VW’s ID models and the Cupra Tavascan and Skoda Enyaq once again, the Kia EV9, and the Polestar 3.

Tesla also offers V2L and V2H (you can even charge one Tesla with another Tesla) on most models, but not yet V2G – Elon Musk says the latter is due in 2025, though you should probably take promises like that with a grain of salt.

V2I and V2V technologies are less common and more tied to the development of autonomous vehicles. Audi experimented with the technology more than a decade ago in some prototypes and a handful of production models can, if the local infrastructure allows for it, communicate with traffic signals, letting you know how long it is until a light turns green.

Several other manufacturers have promised V2I and V2V technology in recent years but later pulled out of such commitments – back in 2018 Toyota said it’d have V2X tech in its cars in the US by 2021 but changed its mind just a year later. That said, the brand does offer some V2X features in Japan, such as notifying drivers that an emergency vehicle is near, and communicating with other Toyota's using radar cruise control.

What do you think the future of car technology looks like? Let us know in the comments below...