Nissan LEAF electric vehicles can now be used to power office buildings

Nissan has successfully carried out a series of field tests in which they used the batteries of their LEAF electric vehicles to power office buildings. 

The “Vehicle-to-Building” concept allows up to six Nissan LEAFs to be connected to the office’s power distribution board. Throughout the day, charging is phased so that during peak hours, the building taps into the cars’ power source, rather than draw more electricity through the board.

When electricity is cheaper, it flows the other way, so that come the end of the day, the Nissan LEAF owners have a fully charged vehicle to take them home.

“Vehicle-to-Building” has been in place at the Nissan Advanced Technology Center in Atsugi City, Japan, since July. The office has seen a total reduce of 25.6KW during peak summer hours by controlling the charging time of the LEAFs, with no impact on the car owners’ commute, or their vehicles.

Furthermore, the concept has led to an approximately 2.5% reduction of electrical power use during peak hours, which translates to a saving of nearly 500,000 Yen per year in electrical power cost (that’s just shy of $5,000USD).

Looking ahead, Nissan plans on further testing and refining the “Vehicle-to-Building” system which, it should be noted, is an off-shoot of the bigger, potentially more impactful “LEAF-to-Home” system, which is designed to do the same thing as that which is described in this article, only at the car owner’s home.

Ultimately, the goal behind this concept is to encourage LEAF owners to charge their cars electricity when demand is low. This will help balance energy needs and can also serve as an alternative source of backup power during outages and/or shortages.

Story via blog.alliance-renault-nissan.com