Toyota's new home battery system builds on its EV battery innovations

Your brand new EV is great for driving, yes, but its massive battery pack could be supremely useful off the road, too. Toyota, seeing this potential, is creating a storage battery system made to power residential homes, with the underlying technology based on the company’s electric vehicle batteries.

The O-Uchi Kyuden System takes a number of Toyota’s battery innovations — including, for example, its battery control system — and sticks them in a standalone unit that can be installed in your home. The system has a rated capacity of 8.7 kWh and a maximum output of 5.5 kWh.

Toyota says the battery system is “based on the concept of safe, long service life, high-quality, good value for the price, and high performance.”

Add it to your clean energy setup — Like other home battery units, the O-Uchi Kyuden System can be used as either a backup electrical source or a primary off-peak one. The most notable difference between Toyota’s system and others on the market is that you can use Toyota’s electric vehicles to charge up the battery. All you need is one adapter to let the juice flow from your car to the house.

Because it’s 2022, the battery system can also connect to your home internet network. Toyota teases some smartphone app connectivity via WiFi with the addition of a hybrid power conditioner, including a look at real-time storage capacity and the ability to switch operation mode and other settings.

Thanks, EV market — Electric vehicle research and development has obviously been great for the EV market, but it’s also been huge for developing smarter batteries. EV batteries have gotten so good that we’re even letting that tech spill over into our homes.

The option of bidirectional charging is heading to the mainstream now, too; the F-150 Lightning includes the feature, and Ford has been promoting the hell out of it. Toyota’s first all-electric vehicle doesn’t actually have bi-directional charging capabilities that we know of, though the O-Uchi Kyuden System certainly alludes to the idea that Toyota will include it in its EVs sooner rather than later.

The O-Uchi Kyuden System is available for pre-order now, with sales beginning in August in Japan. There’s no word yet on whether or not the battery system will release in other markets this year.