Last year Tesla took the wraps off the Powerwall. This is essentially a battery designed for your home, meaning that in the event of a blackout, you will have spare energy to help keep the lights on. However Tesla wasn’t alone in their plans because it didn’t take long for other companies to launch similar initiatives.
Now it seems that Nissan wants in on the fun as well and has since launched the xStorage. At its heart the xStorage will be similar to the other home batteries out there. It will be able to draw power and store it for times of emergency or when electricity prices are at their peak, thus saving users money in the process.
For those unfamiliar, that is one of the selling points of the Powerwall and other similar devices. There are times when electricity prices are high, so by drawing in energy during times when prices are low, it allows users to use the energy stored instead of paying the higher price. In the case of the xStorage, customers can even sell stored energy back to the grid if they have any excess.
We doubt you will be raking in millions through this method, but we suppose it’s one way to use excess energy. Unfortunately the Nissan xStorage will not come cheap as it is priced starting at €4,000 ($4,560) for a 4.2 kWh model, which includes installation costs. It is also only going to be available in Europe and there are no immediate plans to bring it stateside for now.