Nissan Leaf could be used to power homes

By Cornelius Nunev


Nissan is scheming to make its eco-friendly Leaf vehicle into an alternate energy supply for houses in times of crisis. The Japanese automobile manufacturer is intending to develop the new technology as it works to get back to full production. In March, the nation was rocked by devastating earthquakes and an ensuing tsunami. Buying one will cost personal loans because of the high cost.

A pure electric vehicle

Last Dec., the Leaf went on sale. It is a fully electric automobile that runs solely on battery power. The Chevrolet Volt and other eco-friendly cars are typically hybrid cars. There are batteries in the car. A gas powered generator is there for other times though. It costs about $37,000 for a Leaf, or 2.98 million yen, while using a high-performance, 24 kWh lithium-ion batteries.

Automobile to be used for generating power too

Nissan Motors president Carlos Ghosn reported the auto maker is working to equip its Leaf EVs (Electronic Automobiles) with the technology to feed power into private homes. Showrooms with new automobiles should happen fairly soon. The company hopes to have these out in the near future.

More interest has been put to the automobile considering the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Nissan's head of zero-emissions vehicles, Hideaki Watanabe, reported, "Some people are saying that rather than installing a generator, they would just buy a Leaf." For $25,000, or 2 million yen, you are able to get a household storage battery put in, in Japan. This is very comparable to the Leaf.

The Leaf is able to store as much as 24 kilowatt hours. The United States home on average can run for a whole day on that much energy. The automobile could charge the home's power overnight if there were a crisis of some sort.

Here, charge units are not available

Nissan hopes to market the home-powering automobiles without the addition of more hardware. One option, according to Watanabe, is to connect the car to the home via Nissan's quick-charge unit, which restores about 80 percent energy in 30 minutes. With a normal outlet, charging the automobile takes a whole day. It would take about 20 hours to do so. Right now, only Japan sells the quick-charge units. They cost about $15,000 to buy one. Hopefully, that cost could be dropped to $10,000, Watanabe claims.

Not seeing a plant opening anytime soon

Of the 7,600 Leafs that have been sold so far, United States auto owners bought about 2,000. Production slowed with the Japan disasters though. That means the Smyrna, Tenn., production plant was unable to open. It can be late next year before the opening takes place. "Because of the earthquake, it's putting us in a difficult situation," Watanabe said. "But we're not giving up yet," he explained.




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