Nissan Leaf batteries are getting a second life
Nissan expects to make use of the battery packs from about 50-60 Leafs
The venture is projected to scale back yearly carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 3.7 tons
Used Nissan Leaf batteries will assist energy the automaker’s U.S. headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee.
The automaker introduced Thursday that it’s including two battery methods at its headquarters, positioned simply exterior Nashville, which will likely be charged throughout off-peak instances and can provide energy in periods of peak electrical energy demand, serving to to stability the grid by preserving electrical energy demand from the workplace constructing extra constant whereas lowering emissions.
Peak shaving with Nissan Leaf second life batteries
The set up consists of two assemblies utilizing battery parts from an estimated 50-60 Leaf electrical automobiles. One incorporates a number of 40-kwh Leaf battery packs including as much as a complete capability of 500 kwh, whereas the opposite makes use of particular person modules.
Nissan expects annual carbon dioxide emissions reductions of as much as 3.7 tons per 12 months from the venture. Technicians will examine the battery installations for at the very least one 12 months, with a selected give attention to how used batteries work collectively regardless of totally different states of well being. The automaker can even work with Center Tennessee Electrical to check potential demand response makes use of, just like tasks already being undertaken by Basic Motors and Ford, to scale back electrical energy demand from fossil-fuel energy crops.
Nissan U.S. headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee
This is not the primary second-life battery venture Nissan has undertaken. In 2015 the automaker unveiled a plan to supply used Leaf battery packs for stationary vitality storage items within the U.S., and it is experimented with the concept in Europe and Japan as properly. Different automakers have executed the identical. Porsche, for instance, is utilizing Taycan batteries to assist energy one in every of its factories.
The give attention to EV batteries’ second life assumes that many batteries will likely be left over as soon as the vehicles they’re put in in attain the tip of their usable lives. However it might take a while for the EV fleet to succeed in a big sufficient measurement to produce batteries for something aside from modest tasks like this Nissan effort. And with fluctuating uncooked supplies costs and the geopolitical and environmental points surrounding their sourcing, there’s some debate about whether or not reuse or recycling is the higher choice.