Figure 1. The Enphase IQ Bidirectional EV Charger, shown here in its wall-mounted configuration, supports EV charging, home backup (V2H), and grid export (V2G) when paired with the IQ Meter Collar. The charger is expected to be available in the second half of 2026.
Bidirectional charging is redefining the boundary between electric vehicles (EVs) and the grid. Once seen solely as energy consumers, EVs are now becoming distributed energy resources capable of powering homes, supporting grids, and enhancing energy resilience.
Enphase Energy’s IQ Bidirectional EV Charger represents this next step, providing a two-way power bridge between the vehicle, home, and utility network (Figure 1).
Designed for efficiency, safety, and global standards compliance, the system allows vehicles to discharge energy into homes during outages (vehicle-to-home, or V2H) and export energy back to the grid during peak pricing periods (vehicle-to-grid, or V2G).
“Let’s take the most basic use case. A homeowner buys a car, and they want to use it to provide backup and export into the grid at the time of great demand,” shares Raghu Belur, co-founder and chief product officer at Enphase Energy. “That can be done with just two components… a bidirectional EV charger and this little device called the MID.”
Understanding the MID
The microgrid interconnect device (MID) works in tandem with the IQ Bidirectional EV Charger to form a self-contained, grid-agnostic microgrid. When the utility grid fails, the MID automatically isolates the home and signals the vehicle to begin supplying power, seamlessly restoring electricity using the EV’s stored energy.
“The MID is a small isolation device that sits underneath a meter,” explains Belur. “Its job is to sense when the grid fails. It opens up or isolates the home from the grid and tells the car to start powering the home instead of the grid. And all of this happens completely seamless.”
By handling the isolation and switching logic, the MID enables the charger to manage bidirectional power flow safely and automatically. The result is a system where the EV becomes a mobile, self-contained energy resource, capable of powering a home or supporting the grid without stationary batteries (Figure 2).
Engineering a two-way power architecture
Once the MID isolates the home, the charger directs power flow between the vehicle and household loads. The system is ac-coupled, operating on standard 120/240 V household wiring at 60 Hz, making it easy to integrate into existing electrical infrastructure or Enphase’s broader energy ecosystem.
Figure 2. With the grid online, the IQ Bidirectional EV Charger exports energy to the grid (V2G), and during outages it powers the home (V2H). Dc from the EV is converted to ac inside the charger and routed through the IQ Meter Collar for measurement, safety, and grid coordination.
The charger’s core innovation lies in its hybrid power flow: ac between charger and home for safety, and dc between charger and vehicle for efficiency.
“Inside the unit, we have three 3.84-kW bi-directional inverters for a total of 11.52 kW,” says Belur. “The two core components of that, one is our own custom ASIC. This is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that precisely manages power flow and communication. “It’s completely software defined. And all of this in a very sophisticated mechanical package that doesn’t need any active cooling. This makes the product that much more reliable.”
Intelligent control
The IQ Bidirectional Charger integrates with Enphase’s IQ Meter Collar, a compact grid isolation and monitoring device that provides real-time data on current and power import/export by the home. When paired, the two components create a self-contained microgrid capable of islanding from the utility during outages (Figure 3).
“In the event of a grid outage, the IQ Meter Collar automatically disconnects the home from the utility grid, allowing the IQ Bidirectional EV Charger to power the home using energy from the EV. After grid power is restored, the IQ Meter Collar works with the charger to reconnect the home to the utility.”
Essentially, the architecture allows a home to re-energize directly from the EV battery without any external grid connection. Add in an AI-driven energy management system and these capabilities forecast generation, consumption, and grid conditions in real time.
“We train our AI models based on that data, and we forecast what your generation is going to be… such as, when to charge your batteries, when to charge your car, when to discharge the batteries, when to discharge your car, when to buy from the grid, when to sell to the grid,” he explains. “All of this requires sophisticated predictions algorithms and software to manage all of these resources.”
Figure 3. When paired with the IQ Meter Collar, the IQ Bidirectional EV Charger can intelligently switch between EV charging, home backup (V2H), and grid export (V2G). The Meter Collar provides isolation, real-time consumption monitoring, and grid coordination, enabling seamless operation even without a stationary home battery.
Compliance and compatibility
The IQ Bidirectional EV Charger is built for global interoperability, designed to meet ISO 15118-20, OCPP 2.1, UL 9741, UL 3141, UL 1741 SB, and IEEE 1547 standards. It supports 400 and 800-volt vehicle platforms, ensuring compatibility with the newest EV architectures.
“The key decision we made as we were developing the bidirectional EV charger was to be completely standards compliant, and able to communicate seamlessly with both the car and the grid,” says Belur.
Physically, the charger is NEMA 3R rated, UL certified, UV resistant, and temperature tested from –22° to 131° F, with 25-foot cable options in CCS Type 1 and NACS formats. A built-in Class B energy meter provides ±1% accuracy (ANSI C12.20) for precise energy accounting.
With integrated intelligence, grid-forming capability, and future-ready compliance, the IQ Bidirectional EV Charger positions EVs as an active player in energy infrastructure, beyond transportation. For engineers, it exemplifies how power electronics, communication protocols, and grid resilience are converging in the next era of electrified design.
By enabling the EV to function as a mobile energy storage and delivery asset, the charger effectively turns the vehicle into a dynamic power node within the energy ecosystem.
“Whenever the EV is connected, it can provide the same core stationary storage capabilities, such as backup power during outages, energy export to the grid, and intelligent, optimized charging behavior,” says Belur.
This is the power of electric vehicles.
Filed Under: Charging, Featured Contributions, Tech Spotlight