Brian Joss – Nissan has created a vision to make electric vehicles even more useful to customers by introducing new convenient ways to utilize their batteries’ ability to store and share energy.
Under the plan, called Nissan Energy, owners of Nissan’s electric vehicles will be able to easily connect their cars with energy systems to charge their batteries, power homes and businesses or feed energy back to power grids. The company will also develop new ways to reuse electric car batteries.
Nissan has already begun programmes in the U.S., Japan and Europe aimed at creating an “ecosystem” around its range of electric vehicles, including the Nissan LEAF, the world’s best-selling electric car. Nissan Energy brings these initiatives together as part of the company’s Nissan Intelligent Mobility strategy.
“Nissan Energy will enable our customers to use their electric cars for much more than just driving – now they can be used in nearly every aspect of the customer’s lives,” said executive vice president Daniele Schillaci, Nissan’s global head of marketing, sales and electric vehicles. “Our Nissan Intelligent Mobility vision calls for changing how cars are integrated with society, and Nissan Energy turns that vision into reality.”
Nissan Energy will establish new standards for connecting vehicles to energy systems through three key initiatives: Nissan Energy Supply, Nissan Energy Share and Nissan Energy Storage. High-profile Nissan Energy initiatives extend to a variety of locations, including Nissan’s North American headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, where Nissan North America will be piloting the use of Leaf vehicles to assist in powering its headquarters facilities during peak electrical demand times, anticipating significant cost savings and in Hagen, Germany, Leaf vehicles will be used as a reserve for the German electricity grid, in an innovative pilot project involving Nissan, technology company The Mobility House, energy supplier ENERVIE and transmission system operator Amprion , while in Japan Nissan is working with partners such as electric and telecom companies, conducting field tests of vehicle-to-grid and virtual power plant systems to confirm and promote opportunities for electric vehicles to assist with managing energy Nissan Energy Supply will provide the connected charging solutions customers need at home, on the road and at their destination for customers want to charge their electric vehicles when it’s most convenient, and the majority of charging takes place at home. Nissan’s efforts to assist customers includes verifying whether charging equipment, such as electrical sockets or wall boxes, can be connected to Nissan electric vehicles safely (market-dependent).
Away from home, customers can make use of the fast-growing CHAdeMO charging network – one of the world’s largest, with more than 22,000 quick-charging points globally. Finding charging locations and hooking into the network – allowing Nissan Energy Supply to come alive – is made possible through the revised LEAF navigation system and easily available NissanConnect app.
The batteries in an electric car can do more than just power the vehicle; they can also serve as mobile energy storage devices. Nissan vehicles already on the road contain more than 10 GWh of combined storage potential.
Nissan Energy Share capabilities connect the vehicles with society’s infrastructure to allow them to share their high-capacity battery power with a connected home or building. They also allow the cars to link to the local energy grid to act as virtual power plants – supplying the vehicle’s power to the grid and contributing to efficient energy management. Thanks to these capabilities, customers will be able to share spare battery capacity without compromising their mobility. Nissan has already carried out Energy Share pilot programs in Japan, the U.S., Europe and other markets, collaborating with several companies and organizations. Once the pilot tests are completed, Nissan will be ready to rapidly commercialise the systems.
CAPTION Energy share: infographic: Nissan/ Motorpress
