POWER TO THE PEOPLE

It’s not just mobility that Nissan are hoping to shake up with the Leaf...

Nissan are keen to claim that the Leaf is more than just a car. To them it’s part of an energy revolution that will see cars helping support the electricity grid and batteries enjoy a second purpose long after the end of the car’s useful life.

Under the banner of the electric ecosystem, the manufacturer wants the Leaf and its E-NV200 van to be part of a renewable energy infrastructure that sees cars, homes and the grid work intelligently together to create a sustainable power network.

Part of their vision is that cars with plenty of charge will feed energy back into the mains through twoway charging stations in homesandbusinesses.this will allow the car to power homes or even feed back into the grid at times of peak demand then replenish its batteries when demand drops.

They’re also entering the home energy game. Customers can now buy solar panel systems from Nissan to power their homes and charge their Leafs in truly zero-emission fashion. These systems feed into another part of Nissan’s plan, with the option to install a solar energy storage unit that’s made from the batteries from old EVS. Nissan estimate that the batteries can have up to a decade of useful life as home storage systems after a full life in car.

They’re already fitting them to sports stadia, and introducing them to parts of rural Africa which do not have reliable power supplies. And they’re even fitting them to E-NV200 vans to create mobile energy sources for emergency use.