Nissan’s pokey little electric Leaf car will be able to power your home in the case of a blackout, via a new two-way charging system called Leaf to Home, an idea that originated from March’s Fukushima disaster.
The country is still being affected by the Fukushima fallout, with areas still going through occasional power shortages. Nissan came up with the brilliant two-way charging plan which could help households during those moments, charging the car overnight when the electricity rates are cheaper, and then during the day, feeding that electricity back to the house from the car’s 24kW/h battery, which could keep a household running for two days.
While Leaf to Home isn’t available to Leaf owners just yet, it’s expected the system will be going on sale next year in Japan, with a view of rolling it out to other countries later. [Bloomberg and PC World via Consumer Reports]