Nissan LEAF is OFFICIALLY a Power Station

The new Nissan LEAF has become a mobile power station in Germany as the LEAF is approved to feed power back in to the grid with vehicle-to-grid technology.

There is a lot of chatter around that, as we transition to a world filled with electric cars, it will be impossible for the Grid to cope with power demand. And there’s certainly more than a grain of truth to the assertion.

But the solution isn’t necessarily to build more and more power stations, it’s to manage the power we produce more efficiently than we do, including finding ways to store excess production of energy to smooth the peaks of demand.

On a big scale that can be achieved with stuff like Pivot Power’s plans to develop a 2-gigawatt network of grid-scale batteries around the UK, with the ability to  absorb or release two thirds the power of Hinkley C Nuclear Power Station on demand.

But it’s not just the big stuff which will be able to help smooth demand for power, but lots of little things too – like the Nissan LEAF.

Last year Nissan won the Excellence in Climate Solutions Award for its Vehicle-to-Grid work which allows energy stored in the LEAF to be fed back in to the grid at times of high demand, recharging itself when the peak has passed.

Now that Vehicle-to-Grid technology moves a step closer to real world implementation with the LEAF passing all the regulatory hurdles to be approved by the TSO in Germany, meaning it can be plugged in to the grid to feed back power at times of high demand.

It’s all part of plans to in Germany to decentralise energy generation, with tech company The Mobility House, ENERVIE, Amprion and Nissan running a pilot project in Hagen, and it looks an eminently sensible direction, and even more so the more EVs hit the road.

Guillaume Pelletreau, MD Nissan Centre Europe, said:

We strongly believe in an emission-free future. Accordingly, we are also very proud that the Nissan Leaf has, as the first electric car ever, been approved as suitable for stabilising grid frequencies. Leaf batteries could make an important contribution to energy transition in Germany and a sustainable future.