Nissan teams up with energy supplier ENEL to bring Smart Grid 'energy hubs' to Europe
Wed 09 December 2015
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A new partnership between the world's biggest selling electric car maker Nissan and multinational energy provider ENEL is seeking to to bring Smart Grid technology to Europe allowing drivers to operate as individual ‘energy hubs’ with the ability to store, use or return electricity to the grid.
As part of the partnership, which was launched at the Paris Climate Change Conference, Nissan and ENEL have committed to collaborate on exploring the introduction of this innovative technology to the European market; the extended use of ‘second life’ electric vehicle batteries for static application and the design and evaluation potential of affordable energy and mobility pack offers.
Vehicle-to-Grid would allow customers to take control of the type of energy they consume avoiding peak tariffs and generating additional household income during peak times.
Using a special two-way charger and energy management system developed by Nissan and ENEL, owners of Nissan's LEAF EV will be able to connect to charge at low-demand, cheap tariff periods, with an option to then use the electricity stored in the vehicle’s battery at home when costs are higher, or even feed back to the grid to generate additional household income.
According to Charged Electric Vehicles magazine, a recent US Dept for the Environment analysis found that repurposing used EV batteries for stationary storage can offset the costs of recycling vehicles whilst a report published last year by Navigant Research predicts that second-life batteries will represent a $3 billion business by 2035.
This announcement follows another from the car manufacturer revealing plans for the Fuel Station of the Future - a concept that combines the company's vision for cleaner and more efficient energy use into one ergonomic site. This project will also be partnership, pairing Nissan up with architects Foster + Partners.
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