Powerloop and aggregator EV dispatch

Aggregator EV dispatch lets a supplier or specialist provider control the timing of charging across many vehicles. With one-way smart charging, the provider can start, pause or reduce demand. With V2G (vehicle-to-grid), a compatible car and chargepoint can also discharge electricity to the home and grid.

Powerloop was an Octopus-led V2G trial, not a tariff that a new customer can join today. It helped demonstrate how a portfolio of domestic cars could be coordinated for the Balancing Mechanism. Octopus Power Pack is the later customer product that applies a similar managed-charging and discharging model.

What Powerloop proved

The Powerloop innovation project ran from 2018 to 2022 and enrolled 135 households. Its package included a Nissan Leaf lease, a Wallbox Quasar bidirectional charger, G99 export approval, a smart meter, an app and a managed import-and-export tariff.

In 2022, the Electricity System Operator and Octopus used part of the fleet in a proof-of-concept Balancing Mechanism trial. The cars were coordinated as an aggregated unit while customers set a target state of charge and a time by which the car had to be ready.

NESO’s final report found that the fleet could respond to control-room instructions and protect the charging preferences supplied by customers. It also identified market registration and operational metering as barriers to wider entry at that time.

NESO now lists Powerloop under Completed trials. Octopus’s older Powerloop page still contains forward-looking wording about data gathering and reports, but it should be read as a project archive rather than evidence that recruitment remains open.

How aggregator dispatch works

The customer gives the provider a required charge level, a ready-by time and permission to control a compatible car or chargepoint. The provider forecasts the combined availability of many vehicles, submits that portfolio into the relevant market or uses it to manage its own energy position, then sends instructions to individual devices.

The schedule has to respect each participating vehicle’s constraints. A car that is unplugged, already at its reserve level or needed earlier than expected cannot provide the same flexibility. The aggregate is valuable because the provider can combine many small, changing contributions rather than relying on one car.

One-way smart charging can provide flexibility by moving or pausing demand. V2G adds the ability to discharge, but it requires a vehicle, chargepoint, connection approval and commercial arrangement that all support bidirectional operation.

Current Octopus product snapshot

The following is a product snapshot as at 22 July 2026. It should be checked against the live Octopus pages before a customer acts.

Octopus Power Pack was open for sign-up as an add-on to a normal Octopus import tariff. Octopus scheduled the participating car’s charging and export, then credited qualifying EV charging so that it was free under the product terms. It was not compatible with every Octopus tariff.

The public eligibility page listed only a V2G-enabled BYD Dolphin paired with a V2G-enabled Zaptec Pro. It also required:

a smart electricity meter that Octopus could connect to;
G99 permission to export from the local DNO;
availability to plug in for 12 hours a day on 20 days each month; and
charging below 210kWh per month under the standalone tariff’s stated conditions.

The page said Power Pack did not work with Tracker or Agile import, Agile export or Octopus’s Intelligent tariffs. Octopus also required room to discharge the car: the customer-set minimum state of charge had to be below the product’s stated limit.

These are supplier conditions, not general V2G rules. Vehicle support, tariff compatibility, charging allowances and control limits can change without the underlying V2G principle changing.

Power Pack Bundle is a different contract

The Power Pack Bundle combines a vehicle lease, compatible chargepoint installation and the Power Pack energy arrangement. As at 22 July 2026, the public bundle page offered the BYD Dolphin and allowed customers to request a quote.

The lease, installation and electricity terms need to be assessed separately. Mileage, property, credit, parking, smart-meter and connection requirements can determine eligibility. The bundle page also warned that G99 approval is not guaranteed and that a customer unable to obtain it cannot take the V2G vehicle package.

Do not transfer a warranty statement from the bundle to unrelated hardware. Octopus said its partnered BYD bundle was designed so that managed cycling did not affect the vehicle warranty. An owner using another vehicle, charger, lease or aggregator must obtain confirmation for that specific arrangement.

G99 approval is part of the installation

A V2G chargepoint can export and therefore has to be considered as generating equipment by the DNO. Power Pack requires G99 approval before the product can operate. The DNO, not the energy supplier, decides what export capacity the local connection can support.

Where a home already has solar, a stationary battery or another inverter, the application must account for the combined arrangement. An export limitation scheme may keep the total within an agreed limit, but it does not remove the need for the correct connection process and compliant equipment.

The installer should document the approved export limit, protection settings and any interaction between the V2G charger and other generation. A tariff acceptance is not a substitute for network approval.

Billing needs separate measurement

Power Pack distinguishes energy used by the participating vehicle from the rest of the home’s import. Under the supplier’s description, the normal electricity bill includes the home’s total use and a separate credit removes qualifying EV charging.

Octopus also says it can distinguish V2G flows from solar or stationary-battery export so those sources can continue under the customer’s normal export arrangement. That is a product-specific metering and billing capability. Another provider may account for the same flows differently.

Before enrolling, ask how the system treats:

conversion losses between the grid, chargepoint and vehicle;
electricity used for immediate or override charging;
solar generation consumed while the car is charging;
energy discharged into the home rather than exported;
existing solar or battery export payments; and
a missing meter or device-data interval.

Control, availability and wear

The owner retains a mobility requirement while the provider needs flexibility. Check the ready-by guarantee, reserve level, manual override, notice of dispatch and consequence of repeatedly unplugging early. An override may be available but may not receive the product’s charging credit.

Bidirectional operation adds energy throughput to the traction battery without adding road miles. The vehicle warranty, lease and insurer should expressly permit the intended V2G use. Ask how much additional throughput the provider expects, who controls charge limits and whether the customer can see a record of charging and discharge.

Connectivity matters as well. The car, chargepoint, smart meter and provider platform must exchange reliable data. The contract should explain what happens if an integration fails, a supported model is removed or the customer changes vehicle.

The market has moved since the trial

Powerloop’s 2023 report described specialist operational metering as a major barrier. In March 2026, NESO changed the relevant Balancing Mechanism metering rules so portfolios of existing EV chargers, heat pumps and batteries could participate through a supplier or aggregator without that expensive specialist meter in many cases.

That does not make every EV dispatchable or every V2G combination commercially available. The provider must still participate in the market, support the hardware, obtain the necessary data and offer the customer a contract. Powerloop remains useful evidence of the operating model, while current eligibility must come from a current product page.

Vehicle-to-grid charging
Vehicle-to-home backup charging
Virtual power plant participation
Tariff stacking
G99 application pathway
G100 export limitation
ISO 15118 plug-and-charge
Smart charging schedules
Half-hourly settlement data