Quasar 2 Powers the First U.S. Homes in Menifee, California
A new era of energy independence begins
In the heart of Southern California, Wallbox has completed the first U.S. residential installations of its next-generation bidirectional charger, Quasar 2 – marking a major milestone in the evolution of home energy.
Through a collaboration with Kia America and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), six Quasar 2 units were installed in a neighborhood in Menifee, turning family garages into powerful energy hubs.
This milestone marks a pivotal moment in the clean energy transition: American households can now power their homes directly from their Kia EV9, showcasing how EVs can deliver value far beyond mobility.
Transforming EVs Into Energy Assets
At the heart of this project is Quasar 2, Wallbox’s most advanced home energy solution to date. Unlike conventional EV chargers, Quasar 2 enables two-way energy flow – meaning compatible vehicles can both charge and discharge energy back to the home.
Here’s the key: EV drivers don’t need a dedicated home battery. A Kia EV9 stores seven times more energy than the average home battery, so you can put that power to work – power your home, avoid bulky and expensive batteries, and get value from your car even while it’s parked. Essentially, if you own an EV, you already have seven home batteries sitting in your driveway.
In a community built on sustainability and smart energy design, installing Quasar 2 empowers households to:
- Stay powered for up to three days during outages or emergencies.1
- Lower energy bills by using stored EV power when grid rates peak.
- Strengthen grid stability, contributing to a more resilient local energy network.
With 12 kW of bidirectional capacity, Quasar 2 transforms the garage into the epicenter of a smart home energy ecosystem, seamlessly integrating with rooftop solar and home energy management systems through the Wallbox App.
“More than a technology milestone, this is a glimpse of a future where every EV is an energy asset. Quasar 2 puts homeowners in control of their energy, helping them achieve resilience, independence, and sustainability in their daily lives.”
Douglas Alfaro, Chief Business Development Officer at Wallbox
Menifee: A Living Blueprint for Energy Freedom
Set in a newly built all-electric neighborhood, the Menifee project was designed to test real-world vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology and its potential to create microgrid-ready communities.
Solar panels, smart home controls, and energy-efficient architecture all converge here, but it’s Quasar 2 that unlocks the neighborhood’s true potential by leveraging the EV itself as a powerful energy source.
By enabling energy to flow between EVs, homes, and the grid, Menifee demonstrates how integrated clean energy systems can benefit both individual households and the wider energy network.
“As we expand our lineup of electric vehicles, projects like this show how EVs can deliver value beyond mobility.
Sujith Somasekharan, Director of Connected Car & Mobility at Kia America
Partnering with Wallbox and UCI allows us to demonstrate how our vehicles can power homes, reduce costs, and create meaningful environmental impact for families.”
Collaboration Driving Tangible Change
This initiative represents a powerful collaboration between academia and industry, merging cutting-edge R&D with commercial scalability.
Collaboration between leaders in mobility, energy, and research – Wallbox, Kia America, and UC Irvine – have each brought a piece of this energy puzzle to life.
“Real-world deployment of bidirectional charging is essential for gathering the technical and behavioral insights needed to scale V2H deployment.”
Professor Scott Samuelsen, Founding Director of the UCI Advanced Power and Energy Program
Together, they’re turning research into tangible reality, proving that energy flexibility and consumer empowerment don’t require extra batteries – they already live in your EV.
A Gateway to a Smarter, Cleaner Future
For homeowners, Quasar 2 offers more than just backup power. It’s peace of mind, energy independence, and untapped EV energy in a single device.
For automakers, it delivers more value to customers beyond mobility, helping boost EV adoption by turning cars into powerful energy assets.
For utilities, developers, and even countries at an infrastructure level, it represents a scalable, low-investment solution to accelerate the energy transition.
The challenge with renewables isn’t simply generating more energy, it’s balancing supply and demand in real time. Even if a country installs enough solar panels to meet its daily energy needs, most of that power is produced midday, while consumption generally peaks in the evening. Without storage, that imbalance can destabilize the grid in seconds.
By tapping into the massive, underused storage capacity of electric vehicles, Quasar 2 offers a smarter alternative to costly, large-scale batteries – turning millions of parked EVs into a flexible, distributed energy resource that keeps the grid balanced and clean, throughout the day.
And for the EV industry at large, it signals a new era of energy: one where cars are not only part of the energy transition, but capable of powering the transition itself.
In Menifee, this vision is already a reality, and it’s only the beginning.
