Nissan’s Technical Centre Europe is the first of the company’s European facilities to have vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology installed. The R&D facility, based at Cranfield, has had eight Enel-Nissan V2G chargers put in place, and made available for all Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) employees to use.
The project is part of a market-wide plan for Nissan to install V2G chargers at all of its European bases. As an element of its Intelligent Mobility plans, Nissan has committed to install smart energy management systems, that can both charge vehicles and use them as energy storage devices to balance the load placed on the grid.
With details of the plan announced at the Nissan Futures event in London earlier this year, the project is just part of a trial that partners Nissan with energy provider Enel and the National Grid. In all, 100 V2G units will be installed at locations of both private and fleet Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 owners. This will then see users able to charge their vehicles and sell the energy back to the National Grid when there is high demand.
David Moss, Vice President, Vehicle Design & Development, NTCE said: “The installation of the V2G chargers at NTCE is a significant moment for us. It gives us the opportunity to showcase to the world how the energy management systems Nissan is developing can work in a real-life business situation.
“Integrating it into our own facilities demonstrates the confidence we have in the technology and our steadfast belief that our electric vehicles can play a pivotal role in developing an ecosystem of technologies that work seamlessly together to create sustainable and efficient solutions for the future.”
Francisco Carranza, Director of Energy Services, Nissan Europe, said: “Nissan has always been at the forefront of EV technology development and we’re excited to be using our expertise to help change the way people consume energy. Through the integration of Nissan EVs we can help shape a society whose energy use is sustainable, efficient and affordable. It could change the rules of the game and make energy cheaper for everyone.”
The announcement comes as Nissan and Enel confirmed their first commercial V2G customers in Europe. Danish utility firm Frederiksberg Forsyning have had 10 units installed at the company’s headquarters.
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