The 40 kWh Nissan e-NV200: The LCV market game changer!

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Jim

Nissan’s latest electric vehicle press release doesn’t include the exclamation mark in our title for today:

Nissan’s breakthrough e-NV200 100% electric van combines the features of the award-winning Nissan NV200 van with the market-leading New Nissan LEAF, offering businesses a zero-emission vehicle packed with innovative technology and functionality.

From spring 2018, Nissan will introduce in Europe its new zero-emissions van that goes further than ever on a single charge thanks to a new 40kWh battery. The Nissan e-NV200 now offers a 60% extended range with unchanged cargo capacity and single-shift transmission that makes driving easier and safer.

With more than 15,000 vehicles on the roads since its introduction in Europe in 2014, this new generation of 100% electric Nissan e-NV200, embodying the company’s Nissan Intelligent Mobility vision, now goes another step forward. The longer range provided by its bigger battery and a full new series of connectivity features makes the 100% electric e-NV200 a real game changer in the LCV market.

Regular readers will be aware that we wholeheartedly agree with that final sentence! Whilst it was a non-typical use case our mainly motorway road test of a 24 kWh equipped e-NV200 last summer would have been considerably swifter with an extra 60% range. Our local rural post lady assures us that her currently diesel powered round is about 50 miles. Absolutely no problem in the new e-NV200. Are you listening Royal Mail? According to Nissan once again:

As well as helping business customers enhance their green credentials, the van represents a key pillar in Nissan’s wider commitment to cutting the level of emissions in city centres caused by professional drivers making deliveries and/or collections, ranging from CO2 emissions to noise pollution. It can help make 100% electric last mile deliveries achievable for businesses and professional drivers everywhere, with customers now able to drive more than 100 km further on a single charge compared to the previous generation e-NV200 fitted with 24kWh battery.

No more range anxiety then, and Nissan Europe’s Director of Electric Vehicles, Gareth Dunsmore, makes a very important point:

Businesses have a huge impact on air quality and traffic congestion, especially in city centres, and the Nissan e-NV200 helps cut the level of CO2 emissions they create.

The photos accompanying the press release are of the white “Evalia” 7 seater people carrier version of the e-NV200 rather than a red parcel carrying van, and seem to have been shot in amongst some renewable generation on the isalnd of Tenerife:

Whatever the colour or configuration, we’d love to try one out on some Great British roads in the not so Great British winter. It seems that we’ll have to wait until “spring” though.

Nissan further inform us that:

Using the same battery technology as the new Nissan LEAF just introduced in Europe, and with no increase in the size of the battery itself, e-NV200 customers face no compromise in load space. Crucially, it can help make 100% electric last miles delivery achievable for businesses and professional drivers everywhere.

At long last Nissan get around to the V2G bit:

The Nissan e-NV200 is also much more than just a 100% electric vehicle. It is a mobile power unit complete with unique bi-directional charging. This means it can give back energy to power the world around it by connecting to offices or business facilities. It can even return any excess charge to top up and stabilise the local energy grid thanks to Nissan’s innovative Vehicle to Grid technology.

We couldn’t agree more!

Nissan Start European Production of 2018 LEAF

Posted on December 19, 2017 by Jim

In a press release earlier today Nissan announced that:

Production of the all-new Nissan LEAF, the next generation of the world’s best-selling electric vehicle, is officially underway for European customers.

With the first new LEAFs now rolling off the line at Nissan’s plant in Sunderland, UK, the countdown has now started to the first customers receiving their vehicles in February.

Embodying Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility vision and already winning international awards for innovation and technology, this new model has been reinvented to offer greater range, dynamic design, advanced driver assistance technologies and enhanced connectivity.

Production begins of the new Nissan LEAF in Europe

According to Nissan Europe’s Divisional Vice President for Manufacturing, Kevin Fitzpatrick:

Nissan led the way in introducing electric vehicles to Europe in 2011, and every year since then it’s been clear that more and more customers share our vision for the future of driving.

We’re excited to start production in Sunderland and to bring the new Nissan LEAF to European markets from February.

The 2018 Nissan LEAF production line in Sunderland

The press release continues with a list of the new features of the 2018 LEAF, then concludes:

The Nissan LEAF has been in production in the UK since 2013 for European markets, with more than 85,000 units sold in Europe since 2011, when the first deliveries began from Nissan’s Oppama plant in Japan. Following an initial investment of £420m, the introduction of the new Nissan LEAF has been supported by a further £36m investment in Nissan Sunderland Plant, supporting more than 2,000 jobs at Nissan and in the UK supply chain.

Nissan’s Sunderland Plant

The start of production follows the new Nissan LEAF’s first major international awards last month, at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) annual CES Unveiled ceremony in New York, presented by the Consumer Technology Association. LEAF was awarded:

CES Best of Innovation award winner for Vehicle Intelligence and Self-Driving Technology, and

CES honoree for Tech for a Better World

Here’s a video of the 2018 LEAF production line in Sunderland in action:

Here at V2G UK we cannot now help but wonder when the first 2018 model year e-NV200 van will become available here in the United Kingdom?

Nissan’s Future Promises “Free” EV Charging

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Jim

The 3rd “Nissan Futures” event entitled “The Car and Beyond” took place in Oslo today. Apart from the European launch of the 2018 Nissan LEAF our suspicions about a 40 kWh battery for the e-NV200 were confirmed:

The new 40kWh battery for the 100% electric e-NV200 offers a 60% extended range of up to 280km NEDC. And, with no increase in size of the battery itself, customers will face no compromise in either load space or payload. Crucially, it can help make 100% electric last miles delivery achievable for businesses and professional drivers everywhere, with customers now able to drive more than 100 km further on a single charge.

As well as helping business customers enhance their green credentials, the van represents a key pillar in Nissan’s wider commitment to cutting the level of CO2 emissions in city centres caused by professional drivers making deliveries and/or collections.

Nissan announced a few other things as well, including a so called “Revolutionary ‘free power for EVs’ breakthrough”:

Over the past year in Denmark, Nissan has been testing this revolutionary new way of driving and today, this has become an offer open to all fleet customers throughout the country. Using Nissan bi-directional charging, customers can draw energy from the grid to power their car or van and then ‘sell’ back to the grid for others to use. This means, once a nominal charge has been paid by the business for the installation of a V2G charger there are no fuel or energy costs; just free power for your EV.

And Denmark is just the start. Nissan also announced a UK collaboration with OVO allowing customers to purchase an xStorage home energy unit at a discounted price enabling them to ‘sell’ back energy to the grid. This helps contribute to grid stability in a world where demand for energy is increasing due to a growing, urbanising population. It can result in an additional expected income for users averaging £350 / €400 per year.

OVO Energy have also issued a press release about their collaboration with Nissan today:

The new offering is the first of its kind in the UK and will combine VNet – OVO’s groundbreaking intelligent energy technology – with the capabilities of the innovative Nissan xStorage Home system.

Building from this collaboration, OVO plans to launch OVO SolarStore (beta), the company’s first battery storage offering for qualifying customers. OVO customers with solar households will soon be able to purchase an xStorage Home system direct from OVO for £4,800 (excluding installation, subject to terms and conditions), and benefit from a £350 annual credit and estimated average £240 savings on their energy bill.

According to OVO CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick:

Electric vehicles are fast becoming a mainstream option for drivers and solve many of the challenges facing our cities. We believe that they have an integral part to play in the twenty-first century power grid and accelerating decarbonisation and mobility.

We’re delighted that we can now offer such a compelling incentive to customers who are generating their own clean power, providing a truly sustainable alternative to the traditional energy model.

The press release also waxes lyrical about vehicle-to-grid technology!

Customer vehicle-to-grid (V2G) service planned from January 2018…

V2G technology allows electric vehicles to be fully integrated into the electricity grid and will likely help the grid maximise the use of renewables in the energy system.

The V2G offering will work by allowing Nissan EV owners to connect to the grid to charge at low-demand, cheap tariff periods. They can then use the electricity stored in the vehicle’s battery at home and at work when costs are higher, or even feed electricity back to the grid which could generate revenue for the EV owner. OVO plans to create special tariffs to reward customers for this interaction with the grid.

Currently if all 20,000 Nissan electric vehicles in the UK were connected to the energy network, we estimate that they would generate the equivalent output of a 200 MW power plant with a 10kW charger.

In a future where all vehicles on UK roads are electric, V2G technology could generate a virtual power plant of up to 200 GW. This energy capacity is more than double the peak requirement on the UK grid.

The new Nissan LEAF will be compatible with OVO’s VNet intelligent energy technology. Further details of the offer and the first installations will happen at the same time of the deliveries of the new Nissan LEAF, in January 2018.

If you want to register your interest in OVO’s forthcoming V2G offer they have a page on their web site where you can do so.

Yet another, albeit slightly older, OVO press release reveals more about VNet that arrived with their recent acquisition of VCharge:

In a move towards building a complete “grid smart” charging solution for electric vehicles, OVO Energy will begin to introduce its proprietary VNet technology across the network, unlocking smart charging capabilities on a national scale, ultimately enabling OVO Energy customers’ electric vehicles to function as mobile batteries at home and on-the-go, balancing renewable energy on the grid and allowing drivers to sell back unused energy.

To accelerate this transition to smart charging, OVO has also acquired electric vehicle charge point specialists, ChargedEV and Indra Renewable Technologies, an electric vehicle components and services supplier, and is harnessing their technical expertise combined with Chargemaster’s, to develop a game-changing smart charger, due to be launched to market later in 2017.

OVO also now have a shiny new section on their web site devoted to the “OVO SolarStore (Beta)“:

Built to harness the potential of your solar set-up, OVO SolarStore (Beta) combines a home battery with state-of-the-art software.

Not only could it lower your bills, but by joining the beta you’ll be helping to create a greener, more-efficient energy system for the UK.

Reduce your bills by storing surplus solar power in your battery to use later.

Your battery will support renewable generation in the energy grid by storing electricity when it’s abundant, and discharging electricity when national demands spike.

Receive a fixed monthly credit for using your battery and helping to balance the grid.

Optimised and managed by our advanced technology, so you won’t need to do a thing.

The OVO SolarStore page also includes comprehensive facts and figures:

Nissan xStorage – Power: 4.6kW, Capacity: 4.2kWh, Up to 5 year warranty, subject to Nissan’s terms and conditions.

Export Credit & Increased Solar-self consumption: £240 saving a year

Annual value of Battery Credit: £350 saving a year

Battery installation survey: £50

Battery cost: £4,800

Battery installation indicative cost: £500

Getting back to the Nissan press release for a moment, it also points out that:

Nissan also showcased its new home energy storage system, which follows on from the success of xStorage. Created especially for EV owners, customers can plug their electric vehicle directly into the wall box to charge. It comes with its own built in energy storage system, giving customers the ability to better manage their energy costs and even generate their own electricity from solar panels, delivering 100% renewable and zero emission power for their car.

I wonder if OVO will ever get around to offering a game-changing bidirectional smart charger version of Nissan’s new combined home energy storage system? That would seem to be the perfect answer to the conundrum posed in our banner way back at the top of this article!

An Electric Car Club for Camelford?

Posted on September 17, 2017 by Jim

We think the answer to the question posed in our title for today is YES! Here’s one reason:

This is exactly what we have been waiting for. A 40 kWh #eNV200! Can we road test the 1st one in the UK please?! https://t.co/npMCtAkK8D pic.twitter.com/1WD48MVRIc

— V2G Limited (@V2gUK) September 16, 2017

Nissan recently announced the new 2018 edition of their popular LEAF saloon, with increased range over the previous model thanks to a 40 kWh battery pack. Over the weekend a “leak” revealed that a 40 kWh version of Nissan’s e-NV200 van is on the way. That will provide a big increase in range over the e-NV200’s current 24 kWh battery pack, and make the “van” a much more realistic choice for a wide variety of small businesses. Note also that there is an MPV/taxi version of the e-NV200 known as the “Combi”, which I have taken a ride in over the North Sea in the Netherlands:

That means we’re really talking about an electric vehicle club, not a mere “car” club. That’s one way of implementing the concept known as “Mobility as a Service” (or MaaS for short).

Here’s another very good reason to try and put more electric vehicles on the streets of Camelford:

Earlier this year Camelford was declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA for short). According to the Town Council web site:

Cllr Claire Hewlett… said “I’m very pleased that Camelford has now been declared an air quality management area, as it means that Cornwall Council and Defra have offically acknowledged we have an air quality problem. The Clean Air Group have been working closely with Cornwall Council’s environmental protection team to get this far. Talking to people in town today, everyone is excited that something might actually happen.”

As part of the consultation, the council asked for residents and businesses to convey their ideas for improving air quality, and some of these will be investigated as part of a range of options before the final plan is published.

Now electric vehicles improve air quality in town and city centres by reducing nitrogen oxide emissions and particulates from exhaust pipes and brake dust, so here’s our idea.

Apart from improving air quality an electric vehicle club in Camelford would also reduce the number of cars sitting unused in garages and car parks for much of the time. One car club vehicle can result in 10-20 private cars being taken off the road. If you don’t possess a car you’re more likely to indulge in healthier alternatives such as walking or cycling for short journeys. In rural areas with poor public transport car clubs allow people who could never afford a car of their own to make occasional longer trips they would otherwise be unable to, except perhaps by taxi. For more on the benefits of car clubs see:

Obviously a few extra EVs in and around Camelford won’t initially result in a vast improvement in air quality if lots of diesel engines keep running whilst queueing along the A39, but you have to start somewhere! The same principle applies to charging infrastructure. Camelford has the advantage of already possessing a rapid charging point in the Churchfields car park, but additional lower power EV charging points would need to be installed. If that could be achieved then a 100% electric car club would allow people to experiment with driving an electric vehicle at very little cost, and thereby discover the many benefits of EVs for themselves. Assuming that hurdle can be overcome we’d like to perform a consultation of our own.

Please take our short survey and let us know your opinion about which sort of vehicle should be the first one to be made available to Camelford residents:

[yop_poll id=”1″]

Here are those options in more detail:

smart fortwo:

Renault ZOE:

Nissan LEAF:

BMW i3:

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV 4×4:

Nissan e-NV200 Van:

Nissan e-NV200 Combi:

Please also feel free to elaborate on the reason for your selection in the space provided for that purpose below.

An Exeter Nissan e-NV200 Heads North

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Jim

The United Kingdom Government have finally seen the light and have pledged to pump £20 million into vehicle-to-grid technology:

Up to £20 million is available from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy – working with the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and Innovate UK – to fund projects that investigate new business models, consumer awareness and technologies that support interaction between electric vehicles and the grid.

So-called vehicle-to-grid technologies are expected to play a big part in making the UK’s electricity supply network smarter and in encouraging take-up.

Vehicles that can take electricity from the grid when demand is low and return it when demand is high could help to even out peaks and troughs and make the grid more efficient.

The UK government wants nearly all cars to be zero emission by 2050, and it sees a smarter and more flexible electricity system as a major benefit to consumers and a key to future growth.

This is of course very good news, apart from the time it has taken UK plc to get around to it! As a consequence of the announcement V2G UK booked ourselves in to give a two minute “elevator pitch” at a Knowledge Transfer Network V2G briefing event at the Energy Systems Catapult offices in Birmingham.

We decided we should travel in style, and Exeter Nissan kindly offered us an extended test drive in an almost brand new Nissan e-NV200 van! That’s much better for our purposes than a black stretch limo, which we will hopefully prove to you in due course. Here’s a photo of the Exeter Nissan team for posterity:

Arguably the most enthusiastic and experienced Nissan team in the UK!

We picked up the e-NV200 from them almost fully charged, and here’s how it looked at the time:

The weather wasn’t too bad, so we jumped straight in and drove the 56 and a bit miles up the M5 to Sedgemoor Services in “Eco” mode at a steady 60 mph or thereabouts. Now zooming up the motorway carrying an overnight bag and a couple of suits in the back isn’t a typical days work for a van, but with that proviso in mind here are some of the sights we saw on arrival at Sedgemoor:

The e-NV200 dashboard will be familiar to LEAF drivers, although there are some other differences. The “gear stick” is mounted below the dashboard, and the foot operated parking brake has morphed back into a conventional handbrake. In our case the 56 miles we’d travelled plus 20 left in “the tank” equates to a range of 76 miles by my reckoning, which is roughly what we achieved during the entire journey.

We’d used the old Ecotricity free “smart card” system on previous test drives, but this time we had to pay through the nose using their new smartphone app. That refused to install on my ancient Motorola Atrix, but we eventually got things working on Kasia’s more modern Sony Xperia. After a lengthy lunch break we returned to see this:

Stopping charging proved to be a non trivial procedure. Pressing the button on the charging station prompted Kasia to tap a button on her phone. That seemed to do the trick on the physical equipment but the virtual app insisted that charging hadn’t stopped yet.

We eventually pressed on regardless to the shiny new Gloucester Services:

51.7 miles according to Google maps. 51 miles according to the e-NV200:

Kasia’s Ecotricity app was still insisting the charging session at Sedgemoor hadn’t finished yet! Power cycling her phone enabled us to get a new session started. After a slightly swifter coffee break this time we set off on the last leg to Birmingham with a 95% charge. That was when our troubles really began. The Nissan satellite navigation system kept insisting “you may be unable to reach your destination” even though there was apparently plenty of juice in the battery. It seems the M5 north of junction 5 was jammed solid. The sat nav eventually suggested an alternative route taking the A38 around Bromsgrove and then the M42 before heading towards Aston University in the centre of Birmingham. After several apologetic phone calls we eventually arrived at the European Bioenergy Research Institute well behind schedule:

Thankfully in all the circumstances our e-NV200 started charging without problems on the ITHECA project‘s bright green bi-directional charger!

To be continued….

Nissan, Enel and National Grid Announce UK V2G Trial

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Jim

Things seem to be looking up for vehicle-to-grid technology here in the United Kingdom! In a press release Nissan have just announced that:

Automotive industry leader Nissan and multinational power company Enel, today confirmed plans to launch a major vehicle-to-grid (V2G) trial – the first ever carried out in the UK. The trial will work by installing and connecting one hundred V2G units at locations agreed by private and fleet owners of the Nissan LEAF and e-NV200 electric van. By giving Nissan electric vehicle owners the ability to plug their vehicles into the V2G system, owners will have the flexibility and power to sell stored energy from their vehicle battery back to the National Grid.

Technical details of the trial are however conspicuous only by their absence from the announcement. I for one would love to know exactly how “sell[ing] stored energy from [a] vehicle battery back to the National Grid” is going to work in practice. The press release continues:

Today’s announcement heralds an exciting era for energy management in the UK. Not only will Nissan electric vehicle owners be able to play an active role in grid stability, providing an alternate source of income, but it will revolutionise how energy is supplied to the grid. Once scaled up, the V2G technology can become a game-changer for owners of Nissan EV in the UK as they become fully fledged and active participants in the UK energy market.

Personally I’d love to be the owner of an electric vehicle that is a “fully fledged and active participant in the UK energy market” but I don’t foresee that happening any time soon. I cannot help but wonder what Nissan UK and National Grid know that I don’t? Whilst I wait to find out the answer to that particular UK energy market conundrum, here’s a publicity picture of the associated hardware:

Perhaps the most pertinent comment in the announcement comes from Steven Holliday, the former CEO of National Grid plc, who points out that:

At National Grid we are constantly looking to the future to ensure we have the capacity to meet national energy demand – it’s our job to future proof the national transmission network.

The rapid uptake of Electric Vehicles is certainly positive yet could also be challenging if we don’t plan ahead to understand precisely what effect this new technology will have on the electricity system. Our Future Energy team predict that there could be up to 700,000 Electric Vehicles in 2020 requiring an extra 500MW of energy. That’s why we support innovative technologies and pioneering projects such as this one that have the potential to make a real difference to the way we manage energy supply and demand.

The press release concludes:

Today’s announcement follows the signing of a partnership agreement between Nissan and Enel in Paris in December 2015 during the 21st UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21) to trial V2G technology in Europe. A trial comprising 40 V2G units began in Denmark in January 2016.

I wonder if any Nissan LEAF owners are already active participants in the Danish energy market?

Nissan Electric Vehicles Prove Popular at UK Universities

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Jim

In a news release today Nissan UK point out that:

The all-electric Nissan e-NV200 van has graduated with flying colours to become one of the most popular new vehicle choices for university fleets in the UK.

The multi award-winning van, which costs from just two pence per mile to run and offers zero emissions mobility whilst driving, is now in service on the fleets at more than 20 of the nation’s leading academic institutions.

University of Birmingham was the first fleet operator in the country to take delivery of the model when it added two to its fleet in 2014.

Since then, the University has added four more and the e-NV200 has moved to the top of the of the list for universities and colleges the length and breadth of the UK.

e-NV200s are now in service at universities including Bath, Brighton, Coventry, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leicester, Leeds, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan, Newcastle, Oxford, Sheffield, St Andrews, Swansea, the University of Central Lancashire and the University of Wales.

In addition, a number of other universities across the UK are currently trialling the e-NV200 as they explore the environmental and financial benefits it could have for their fleets.

Many moons ago I lived in Mayals and I’ve studied at Swansea University:

Nissan point out that in Swansea:

The e-NV200 Combi has been introduced as part of a broader commitment to sustainability and is operated as a pool vehicle, available on a booking system, by the information services and systems team.

As part of a seven-strong EV fleet, which also includes four Nissan LEAFs, the e-NV200 has proved a popular choice thanks to its size, flexibility and car-like driving dynamics.

Nigel Morris from the information services and systems team at Swansea University said:  “Our EV fleet has already been a big success, cutting our carbon emissions by 4.5 metric tons and saving around several thousand pounds in fuel so far.

“The e-NV200 has made a terrific contribution to those figures as it’s proved so popular with staff. It’s a big vehicle that’s got lots of space for cargo or people but it’s very easy to drive.”

This news is all very encouraging of course, but I cannot help but wonder about something Nissan didn’t reveal to us this morning. Which of their long list of UK universities might actively be researching the application of vehicle-to-building or even fully fledged vehicle-to grid technology?

Perhaps the answer is “none of them”, but I am able to reveal that a UK University not mentioned by Nissan is in fact already so doing. Here’s an exterior view of the European Bioenergy Research Institute (EBRI for short) at Aston University:

and here’s what EBRI’s press release from a month or more ago has to say about the bright green box attached to the 24 kWh battery equipped 2014 model year Nissan LEAF pictured above:

Aston University has successfully commissioned the UK’s first permanent electric vehicle to grid (V2G) charging system.

This next generation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure allows power to flow both in the traditional way (grid to vehicle) and in reverse (vehicle to grid). The technology, developed in Japan to improve electricity supply reliability in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, is being investigated in collaboration with our leading industry partners, as a new method for energy storage and grid balancing services in Europe.

Please do read the press release in it’s entirety, and when you’ve done that also take a good look at the user interface of EBRI’s “load matching system”:

Exciting times for V2G enthusiasts here in the United Kingdom! Now that this pilot project is up and running there’s a few more urgent things to be ticked off on the to do list. How about OCPP 2.0 or even fully fledged British and international standards for “smart charging”, V2B and ultimately pukka V2G protocols for starters?

Here’s how the Open Charge Alliance explain the need for “Open Standards”:

The specification for version 2.0 of the Open Charge Point Protocol still seems to be absent from their web site however!

Nissan and Endesa Pledge to Promote V2G in Europe

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Jim

Nissan and Spanish utility Endesa have announced in a press release that they

Signed a ground-breaking agreement at the 85th Geneva International Motor Show that paves the way for a mass-market vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system.

The two companies have pledged to work together to deliver a V2G system and an innovative business model designed to leverage this technology.

If that sounds a touch unlikely to you, here’s the proof:

The press release goes on to explain that:

The two companies have agreed to collaborate on the following activities:

Introduction of V2G services in the European market;

Exploring the use of ‘second life’ EV batteries for stationary applications (including households, buildings, grid);

Designing and evaluating potential affordable energy and mobility pack offers;

One of the main challenges for electricity management systems is to assure grid stability. This situation is especially relevant in countries with a high level of renewable energy generation, and this will only increase in the future. The longer term zero-emission vision is for EVs to be at the center of a fully integrated system whereby owners can participate in wholesale energy markets using the power stored in the batteries of their electric vehicles, and thus significantly reduce their cost of operation. In a not-so-distant scenario, the EV user not only decides when and where they want to charge their EV, but how best they spend and re-sell the energy stored in their EV; receiving tangible financial benefits in terms of energy savings, while at the same time maximizing the use of green energy.

As is customary on these occasions the press release quotes executives from the two companies. Paul Willcox, Chairman of Nissan Europe said that:

We believe this innovation represents a significant development for Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 customers. Every Nissan electric vehicle battery contains a power storage capability that will prove useful in contributing towards smarter and responsible management of the power demand & supply of local power grids, thus reducing our EV total cost of ownership. Not only does this represent an opportunity for Nissan’s EV private and fleet owners, it could also support grid stability and fully demonstrate that each Nissan EV represents a tangible social asset.

whereas Javier Uriarte, Head of Market Iberia at Endesa, pointed out that:

The flexibility offered by V2G implementation in terms of storing and releasing green energy into the grid will further enhance the already significant and tangible benefits of electric mobility. This is why Endesa, together with its parent company Enel and partner Nissan, have decided to join efforts in promoting this technology.

Moving on to the technology employed:

The Vehicle to Grid (V2G) system consists of the Endesa two-way charger and an energy management system that can also integrate such off-grid, and renewable, power generation as solar panels and wind turbines. Using this equipment, a Nissan LEAF or e-NV200 owner can connect to charge at low-demand, and cheap tariff periods, with an option to then use the electricity stored in the vehicle’s battery at home when costs are higher, or even feed back to the grid with a net financial benefit. Electricity generated by solar panels or wind turbines can be used to charge a vehicle, to power the home or business, or to feed back to the grid.

This unprecedented agreement between Nissan and Endesa means that European countries can now review their current energy management policies in order to respond to the technological innovation of the V2G system.

Endesa has developed the ultimate low-cost V2G technology ready for the mass market after years of real-life testing. The company first showcased its V2G technology in 2008 in Smartcity Malaga, the Enel Group testing ground for smart cities. Later on, in 2012, Endesa presented the evolution of such technology at the ZEM2ALL demonstrator.

On March 12, 2015, as the culmination of the V2G system development, together with Nissan as automotive partner, Endesa will host a full demonstration of the market-ready and low cost system in Madrid.

Of course we’re not content with merely reading press releases here at V2G UK, and we have conducted an in depth interview with Olivier Paturet, who is General Manager of Nissan Europe’s zero emission strategy. Here’s a 2013 recording of Olivier outlining the raison d’être of Nissan’s ZEV plans:

Watch this space!

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