You could soon earn money by selling your car’s excess energy to the national grid.
Thanks to a scheme Nissan and Northern Powergrid are developing, owners of Nissan electric cars may be able to plug their vehicles into the grid at peak, high-tariff times and transfer electricity back into it.
As well as boosting the nation’s power supply, this could earn drivers a nice bit of extra cash.
The scheme will probably be focused on the Sunderland-built Nissan Leaf, which is currently the world’s best-selling electric vehicle.
Energy drink #NissanLEAF ? : @nissanleafguy pic.twitter.com/qCnlRucvZJ
— Nissan Electric (@NissanElectric) May 31, 2017
Nissan and Northern Powergrid are also working on a number of other projects, which will explore how batteries, electric vehicles and other technologies can enhance the nation’s energy supplies.
A Nissan spokesperson said, “We’ve always known that Nissan’s EV technology can be used for so much more than just getting people from A to B and we’re delighted to be sharing our expertise to help create more sustainable energy networks in the UK.”
“Through the integration of Nissan EVs (electric vehicles), we can find new solutions that will help shape a society whose energy use is sustainable, efficient and affordable.”
If the scheme proves feasible, it could increase the national grid’s capacity and help make renewable sources of energy cheaper and more widespread.
Nissan and Northern Powergrid – which supplies energy in the north east, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire – have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work with each other for the next six years.
The head of trading and innovation at Northern Powergrid, Jim Cardwell, said, “This signals the start of a ground-breaking industry partnership to explore new innovations that could support the creation of smarter, greener energy networks.”
Nissan is also cooperating with Newcastle University to look at ways in which electric vehicles could put power back into the national grid.
Recent years have seen a surge in electric vehicle sales. There are currently around 97,000 plug-in cars in the UK, 4,500 plug-in vans and 12,518 charge points for electric vehicles.
(Featured image courtesy of Northern Ireland Executive, from Flickr Creative Commons, showing the first private sector electric vehicle rapid charge point at Ikea in Belfast)
