Nissan trials feeding Leaf power to grid

Nissan’s launched a pilot in the UK to feed power stored in 100 Leaf electric cars back into the power network.

It sees the capacity of the cars as extra storage for the national grid, and thinks the bonus juice the little Leaf can offer could potentially help balance power demand during peak times. Power from the cars would be sold back to the grid.

With 18,000 of the all-electric Leafs on the road, there’s the potential for a massive 180 megawatts of capacity – equal to a couple of power stations, says Nissan.

“We believe electric vehicles can become mobile power units supplying cities and their homes, schools and hospitals. Some may think this is science fiction but we believe it is science fact,” said Paul Wilcox, chairman of Nissan Europe.

To carry out the trial, partnerships have been formed between Nissan and National Grid, Italian energy supplier Enel and Eton, a power management specialist.

There are also plans to recycle Leaf batteries as home energy solutions.

Nissan says the power packs, branded Xstorage, could be charged during off-peak times and could potentially power a home for up to three days. The system will be on the market in the United Kingdom from October.