The Nissan LEAF has only been on the market for a year, but that doesn’t mean its future isn’t being considered. As surprising as it may be, no electric vehicle can last forever and accompany their end dates is a rather interesting conundrum. The lithium-ion battery that gives live to the LEAF isn’t a standard battery and therefore can not be treated as such. For this reason, Nissan North America has teamed up with ABB, 4R Energy and Sumitomo Corporation of America to figure out the best way to store and reuse the batteries once the LEAFs have been “used”.
“Innovations in energy storage systems are becoming more viable as the electric grid gets smarter, and Nissan is proud to work with ABB, 4R Energy and Sumitomo to help bring these possibilities to market,” said Ken Srebnik, senior manager for Nissan North America Corporate Planning. The current working plan is to enlist the batteries to serve residential and commercial applications. An energy storage system that could hold power during times of low usage and then return that energy when a power grid’s demand is high is one potential job for the EV powerplants. Hopes are to create a lithium-ion battery storage prototype with a capacity of at least 50 kilowatt hours. With that power, 15 average sized homes could be powered for up to two hours.
Nissan estimates the maximum use of LEAF to be about 10 years. The battery has the ability to operate with up to 70 percent capacity after that, meaning there is still work to be had. Pioneering the ‘smart grid’ is what the companies have in mind when they look toward the lithium-ion’s future. ABB, a leader in power and automation technologies operates in nearly 100 countries around the world. 4R Energy has been working with Nissan and Sumitomo since 2010 and was instrumental in making the LEAF what it is today. They also were employed for research into the lithium-ion battery’s second life and to figure out how to reuse them in the most environmentally considerate way possible. “As a pioneer in developing the business model for the ‘reuse’ of EV batteries for stationary application in the world, 4R ENERGY is happy to partner with the world’s number one power integrator, ABB, and Nissan, the world leading electric car producer,” said Kazuaki Mori, Director of International Business Development Division at 4R Energy.
Source: Nissan
