Listen to this article:
The partnership, announced on 1 June 2026, tests Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology at selected private households across Denmark. The pilot is scheduled to run until autumn 2026, with a commercial rollout targeted for 2027. It represents one of the most ambitious attempts yet to integrate EVs into everyday energy management in Northern Europe.
One Car, Three Jobs
The pilot tests three distinct applications for the Polestar 4's battery pack in a home environment:
- Vehicle-to-Home (V2H): The car discharges energy to power household appliances during periods of high electricity prices or peak demand.
- Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G): Stored energy is exported back to the public grid when demand spikes, potentially generating revenue for the vehicle owner.
- Emergency backup (island mode): In the event of a power outage, the car becomes a standalone power source, keeping critical home systems running.
To enable these capabilities, Clever is installing DC wallboxes that support bidirectional energy flow — hardware that conventional AC home chargers cannot provide. On the vehicle side, Polestar is activating the necessary software via an over-the-air update to participant vehicles, meaning no physical modification to the car is required. The OTA path also signals that a broader commercial rollout would be straightforward to deploy across the existing Polestar 4 fleet.
Denmark's Hidden Battery Reserve
The scale of the opportunity is striking. Denmark currently has more than 600,000 EV batteries on its roads. Each individual battery typically offers greater usable capacity than the home storage systems sold by companies like Tesla (Powerwall) or SMA. If even a fraction of those vehicles were enrolled in V2G programmes, the aggregate storage capacity would dwarf any grid-scale battery installation in the country.
"We are now taking V2X from a vision of the future to everyday reality," said Christina Fink, CEO of Clever. For the charging network, the business case is clear: V2G gives Clever a differentiating service layer beyond simple kilowatt-hour delivery, and Denmark's flexible electricity market — with significant wind power penetration causing regular price swings — makes the economics attractive for participants.
Henrik Bang, Managing Director of Polestar Denmark, framed it in broader terms: "The electric vehicle will not only transport people, but also energy." That shift — from consumption device to active grid asset — is central to why manufacturers are increasingly treating V2X capability as a strategic feature rather than a niche extra.
Polestar 4: The Chosen Platform
The choice of the Polestar 4 as the pilot vehicle is notable. The fastback SUV coupe, which launched in Europe in 2024, is built on Geely's SEA architecture and features a large 94 kWh battery pack offering a WLTP range of up to 610 km in the long-range single-motor variant. Its CHAdeMO-free DC charging architecture and the underlying software platform made it the natural candidate for Polestar's first commercial V2X deployment.
Crucially, the bidirectional functionality is being unlocked through software alone. That approach — retrofitting V2X via OTA — contrasts with some earlier programmes that required purpose-built hardware or specific model years, and it lowers the barrier considerably for scaling to a commercial product.
Not the First, But Among the Most Structured
Polestar and Clever are not operating in a vacuum. Renault partnered with The Mobility House in France in 2024 to offer V2G on the Renault 5 E-Tech, while E.ON and BMW launched a joint V2G pilot in Germany in 2026. Nissan has offered V2H capability in Japan for over a decade using its Leaf, and Volkswagen has been working on V2H integration for the ID. range.
What distinguishes the Danish pilot is its explicit three-layer architecture — combining V2H, V2G, and island mode under a single commercial programme — and the involvement of a major national charging operator with the infrastructure and customer base to scale quickly. Clever operates one of the largest public charging networks in Scandinavia, giving the programme a credible path from pilot to mainstream product.
The Commercial Picture for 2027
For the pilot participants, the practical question is straightforward: does it save money? Danish electricity prices, like those across Northern Europe, are highly variable due to the country's heavy reliance on wind generation. During periods of surplus wind, prices can drop close to zero or even go negative. During calm periods or high-demand evenings, prices spike. A home battery — whether a Powerwall or a Polestar 4 — that can arbitrage those swings has genuine economic value.
The 2027 commercial launch target suggests Clever is confident the pilot will validate both the technology and the business model. The remaining months of testing will stress-test the DC wallbox hardware under real residential conditions, assess how battery usage patterns affect long-term degradation, and refine the user-facing software that lets owners set charging preferences, minimum state-of-charge limits, and departure times.
Battery longevity is the key risk: repeated deep discharge cycles accelerate wear. Industry experience from Japan's V2H deployments and the early Nissan V2G trials in the UK suggests that managed, shallow cycling — rather than daily full discharge — can keep degradation within acceptable bounds. Whether Polestar and Clever's system applies sufficiently conservative limits will be one of the pilot's most closely watched outcomes.
Which Polestar models will support bidirectional charging commercially?
The current pilot is based on the Polestar 4, which is being enabled via an over-the-air software update. Polestar has not yet confirmed whether earlier models such as the Polestar 2 or the forthcoming Polestar 3 will receive the same capability, but the OTA delivery method suggests future Polestar vehicles built on compatible hardware could be updated similarly.
Does using V2G or V2H damage the car's battery?
Battery degradation depends on how deeply and frequently the battery is cycled. Managed V2G programmes typically impose minimum state-of-charge limits and use shallow cycling to limit wear. Experience from similar pilots in the UK and Japan indicates that well-managed bidirectional use adds only marginal degradation compared to normal charging, but Polestar and Clever's pilot will gather real-world data specific to the Polestar 4's battery chemistry.
Will Clever's V2G service be available outside Denmark?
Clever operates primarily in Scandinavia, and the pilot is currently limited to Danish households. However, if the 2027 commercial launch proves successful, the model could be extended to other Nordic markets where Clever has a presence. Broader European deployment would require partnerships with other charging operators or a direct Polestar-led rollout.
Source: https://www.electrive.com/2026/06/01/polestar-and-clever-test-bidirectional-charging/