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On Sunday, September 1, Japan will remember the massive Kanto earthquake of 1923 with the annual Disaster Prevention Day. Also on Sunday, or maybe a day later, hurricane Dorian is expected to slam into Florida. It’s the perfect occasion to remind ourselves that the shiny new EV in the garage could be used for something else than getting groceries, namely as a giant uninterruptible power supply – if the EV would come with the wiring to convert the 350V or thereabouts of the battery to something useful.
Ever since people started talking about EVs, the concept of turning the parked cars into a giant buffer battery was bandied around, but very little was done about it. Except for the USB connection for the smartphone, most EVs take electricity, but they cannot give it back. Most EVs, except the ones by EV pioneer Nissan. The company also pioneered V2H, or vehicle to home. The batteries of the LEAF, and those of Nissan’s electric van, the e-NV200, can do more than storing electricity for driving around, they also can give the electricity back to the house, or wherever it is needed. At least they can do that in Japan, where V2H can be specced as an added extra when the car is bought.
Read The Full Article On: Thedrive