Nissan’s LEAF electric car has yet another function, other than to ferry you around, of course. We are looking at it ability to be able to be hooked up to a building in order to provide electricity to appliances in the building instead of having the building’s electrical system powering its battery. Engineers from Nissan are currently testing out this idea over in the Land of the Rising Sun, calling this particular technology “Vehicle to Building.”
In various parts of the world, there are electric power utilities that charge higher rates during peak hours compared to at night, as that is when demand is low. Nissan engineers decided to use the night time power tariff in order to power up the electric car’s batteries, which will in turn power everyday appliances during the day when energy is at its most expensive. During tests at Nissan’s Nissan Advanced Technology Center in Atsugi City, the engineers managed to lower their peak power draw by approximately 2.5%, which would be the equivalent of an annual savings of approximately $5,000 where the electric bill is concerned. The test involved half a dozen LEAF electric cars that have been hooked up to modified versions of the charging stations that will normally juice up a couple of cars. [Press Release]