Nissan and ENEL announce V2G system, launch smart grid trials in Europe
08 December 2015
At the 21st UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris this week, Nissan announced the development of a Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) system which will allow drivers to operate as individual energy hubs with the ability to store, use or return electricity to the grid.
Nissan will commence Smart Grid trials in partnership with multinational energy manufacturer and distributor, ENEL. In March, Nissan and Endesa, an Enel Group subsidiary, had signed an agreement at the Geneva International Motor Show pledging to work together to deliver a mass-market V2G system and an innovative business model designed to leverage this technology. (Earlier post.)
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As part of the partnership, Nissan and ENEL have committed to working together, to explore:
Introducing this technology to the European market;
The extended use of ‘second life’ electric vehicles batteries for static applications;
Designing and evaluating potential affordable energy and mobility pack offers.
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| Endesa 10 kW bidirectional charging point for EVs. Click to enlarge. |
Nissan’s Vehicle-to-Grid system allows 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 in partnership with ENEL, LEAF owners can 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.
Endesa first showcased its V2G technology in 2008 in Smartcity Malaga, the Enel Group testing ground for smart cities.
Later on, in 2012, Endesa presented the evolution of such technology at the ZEM2ALL demonstrator. ZEM2ALL was a joint initiative between Spain and Japan, supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), and Malaga City Council.
As we use more electrified vehicles, with larger batteries and as more REs are connected to the grids, smart V2G technologies will become a must have in many places.
Enough well connected EVs may solve a major portion of the storage required for future REs allowing the use of more REs without costly add-on storage units.
Posted by: HarveyD | 08 December 2015 at 01:30 PM
Traction batteries are still pretty expensive to share as home buffer batteries...perhaps the costs will pencil out when economies of scale kick in and they become less costly and we know more about their cycle lifes. Also, take care not to get too excited over car maker vapor; they have a record of press that goes nowhere and in some cases out and out lies. Remember VW's 'Green Diesel' and Nissan's 2011 100 mile Leaf that recalculated to 70 miles, an error in range of about 30%.
Posted by: Lad | 08 December 2015 at 04:14 PM
you might as well use partially used up car batteries for something, but it must be cheaper to build domestic storage batteries from scratch where you don't have weight, vibration and shape problems to deal with.
You'll still have to cool them and prevent them from going on fire, but the conditions aren't as harsh as in a car.
Still, if there was a power cut and you were able to keep your computers and lights going for a day or two from the Leaf, you would be pretty chuffed.
Posted by: mahonj | 09 December 2015 at 01:17 AM
The message I was trying to get across is that with decent smart V2G connection, most PHEVs and BEVs owners could:
1) charge when REs are available (only)
2) supply energy to the grid, on rare occasions, when agreed to at higher 2X rates.
The idea would be to create a larger market for clean electricity for electrified vehicles and reduce the load on polluting CPPs and NGPPs.
Posted by: HarveyD | 13 December 2015 at 10:50 AM