Nissan WINS the Excellence in Climate Solutions Award

Nissan has won the Excellence in Climate Solutions Award for its commercially viable work, especially its Vehicle-to-Grid and second-life battery storage systems.

When you think of the modern genesis of electric cars, it’s easy to think that it’s Tesla rocking the world with its EV offerings, and in the process driving premium car makers – like Jaguar, Mercedes and Audi – in to following where they lead.

But despite Tesla selling (we’re guesstimating) more than 350,000 cars since the Tesla Roadster arrived as a Lotus with an electric powertrain in 2008, Nissan has pretty much kept pace with Tesla’s total sales with the LEAF EV alone.

Despite the efforts of Nissan and Tesla, Nissan’s 2010 prediction that 10 per cent of all cars would be EVs by 2020 looks to be just a little wide of the mark, but electric cars and sustainable ways to protect the climate are now rapidly gaining momentum, helped, no doubt, by the VW dieselgate saga.

But churning out EVs is just a part of trying to move to a more sustainable model for car production, and it’s innovative ways of using technology which will make a big difference.

That’s why Nissan has just won the Excellence in Climate Solutions Award at the FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards, given by the FT and International Finance Corp, specifically for its Vehicle-to-Grid and second-life battery systems.

Nissan’s Vehicle-to-Grid system allows energy stored in the batteries of EVs to be fed back in to the grid at times of peak demand – when the car isn’t being used – allowing peaks and troughs of demand to be smoothed out, and help owners manage their energy supply.

The second-life battery scheme takes used batteries from the LEAF (and e-NV200) and repurposes them as storage batteries for Nissan Energy Solar – which has just gone on sale in the UK – allowing home owners to store solar energy to use later.

Daniele Schillaci, Nissan Executive VP, said:

This recognition validates Nissan’s continuing efforts to integrate EV technology into society.

From launching the first mass-market electric vehicle, the Nissan LEAF, to developing Vehicle-to-Grid technology, we will continue leading the way toward a zero-emission future through Nissan Intelligent Mobility.