NISSAN has welcomed Business Minister Greg Clark’s announcement on the first phase of the government’s £246million investment into battery technology and energy storage in the UK.
Under Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility platform, Nissan is aiming to be at the forefront of the electric vehicle market, the roll out of Vehicle-to-Grid technology and the widespread installation of energy storage systems into residential and commercial premises to provide a sustainable second life for its EV batteries.
Francisco Carranza, Director of Energy Services, Nissan Europe said: “Nissan has been saying for a long time that the future is electric. That forward thinking led us to produce the world’s most successful mass market EV – the Nissan LEAF.
“But electric vehicles are not just changing the way we drive, but also the way we live. To ensure Nissan plays a wider role in the advancement, and protection, of our cities and towns, our electric vehicles will be used as clean mobile energy units. This is an area of extraordinary potential both in terms of the environment and the affordability of energy in the future.
“We now look at our cars as so much more than products which simply move people from A to B – they are an intrinsic part of the way we consume, share, and generate energy. This will have a fundamental impact on the shift from fossil fuels to renewables.
“Our vehicles can be plugged into the grid and support the transmission and distribution companies in making the UK grid more sustainable and more stable. The increase of electric vehicles penetration, the introduction of more and more distributed generation and storage and the overall increase in renewable energy penetration should be done smartly. In addition to Nissan electric vehicles and the vehicle to grid services, we also have plans for our batteries once they have been used in cars – as stationary energy storage units which can be filled by renewable sources.”
Nissan and power management leader Eaton currently offer a range of xStorage Home residential energy storage solutions with six product configurations, giving consumers greater choice to meet their energy needs. The system is currently available for pre-orders in the UK.
xStorage Home units provide a sustainable second life for Nissan’s electric vehicle (EV) batteries after their first life in cars is over.The xStorage Home system comes with solar panel inverters already integrated, allowing consumers with installed solar panels to store and then power their homes using clean, renewable energy. The cutting-edge technology in the xStorage Home system is also fit for the future, and can enable customers to sell energy back to the grid.
Nissan is also at the forefront of Vehicle-to-Grid technology or V2G. The integration of V2G technology brings to life Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility vision, demonstrating how zero-emission vehicles such as the 100 percent electric Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 and energy management technologies can work in tandem to create a cleaner, more efficient energy network.
V2G technology allows electric vehicles to be fully integrated into the electricity grid and will help improve grid capability to handle renewable power, making renewable sources even more widely integrated and affordable.
Private EV owners and businesses with large EV fleets will have the opportunity to create mobile energy hubs by integrating their vehicles into the grid. Nissan EV owners can connect to the grid to charge at low-demand, cheap tariff periods, with an option to then use the electricity stored in the vehicle’s battery at home and at work when costs are higher, or even feed back to the grid, which could generate additional revenue for the EV owner.
Francisco Carranza added: “Nissan has always been at the forefront of EV technology development and we’re excited to be using our expertise to help change the way people consume energy. Through the integration of Nissan EVs we can help shape a society whose energy use is sustainable, efficient and affordable. It could change the rules of the game and make energy cheaper for everyone.”
Nissan’s UK-based European R&D facility, Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Cranfield, UK was the first Nissan entity in the company’s network of European facilities to install vehicle-to-grid technology in November 2016.