"It sounds far-fetched but your car could be making your toast for you in a few years. And boiling your kettle. And doing your washing. Nissan has just unveiled new technology that it thinks will revolutionize the way we power our homes, our cars and our lives.
It has developed a system in which its new electric car, the Leaf, can be plugged into a house to provide it with another source of energy. The company’s Smart Home Charging technology is designed to encourage consumers to move away from using electricity provided by the main grid and use their car for more than just motoring.
At the heart of this energy drive is the Nissan Leaf (Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car). In a recent demonstration at the Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan showed how the car can power a home by being connected to a power control system box (PCS) that is hooked up to the property.
In the demonstration, the Leaf was powering a specially-designed Smart House but Nissan is confident the technology could be used with existing homes. The power control system box will go on sale at the end of March next year in Japan, where more than 8,000 Leafs have been sold since the car launched in December 2010. The box will cost more than £4,000.
According to Nissan, the Leaf’s 24kW per hour battery is enough to power a home’s lights, fan, television, fridge and other appliances for two days.
In an ideal world, the technology would operate in a smart home fitted with solar panels and fuel cells, thus free from the electrical grid.
However, until those types of homes are the norm, it could still be used to reduce a household’s electricity bills. The car would be charged at night through the electrical grid but homeowners might use the vehicle’s battery to power certain appliances and devices during peak times to save money. It could also be used to power the home during blackouts.
Energy expert Alastair Ramsay is the sustainable development manager at Legrand, which specialises in electrical installation. He described how it might work." [Continue reading...]
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