Nissan has launched a new project “Nissan Energy” in partnership with Fermata Energy, a vehicle-to-grid systems company, to commercialize the vehicle-to-home/ building system. The project aims to power buildings with Leaf electric vehicles with built-in bidirectional charging capacity, displayed in Nissan’s ‘the next generation Leaf’ vehicles which were launched last year.
Nissan says that the goal is for “owners of Nissan’s electric vehicles to 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 project aims to reduce charging demands by shaving peak demand with Leaf battery packs and the same technology can be used to power homes also.
An overview of the project is provided by Nissan in an infographic-
“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. Our Nissan Intelligent Mobility vision calls for changing how cars are integrated with society, and Nissan Energy turns that vision into reality” commented Daniele Schillaci, Nissan’s EVP in charge of global head of marketing, sales, and electric vehicles.
The project will continuously monitor a building’s electrical load and look for opportunities to draw energy from the Leaf batteries during more expensive, high-demand periods.
The target is the vehicles that sit in parking lots for long periods of time. With Nissan Leafs and Fermata’s vehicle-to-building devices, their software could manage when they charge and discharge in order to shave peak demand and save the municipality a lot of money. Fermata’s software also makes sure that it doesn’t discharge your vehicle when you need the range
Moreover, it would also be helpful in saving the fuel cost and most importantly, reduce carbon footprint.
Nissan is extremely careful with the negative effect of the vehicle-to-home system as it can harm the battery pack.
Leaf owners would be able to make money off their battery packs. You can take advantage of your battery pack when needed but if your car needs more energy capacity, it lets you keep it charged.