Nissan Energy Solar

Robust Power, Recycled

By Anca Gagiuc on Oct 17, 2018 in Technology

Some believe that solar panels require direct sunlight to work. Those same people may believe that the UK is the world’s most unsuitable place to harness the sun’s energy. Well, they are wrong. More than 880,000 people in the UK use solar panels and Nissan has taken note.  

In mid-March, the car manufacturer joined the ranks of Mercedes-Benz, Renault and Tesla and launched their take on a complete home energy management system, which they named Nissan Energy Solar. For now, only UK residents can try it in their households.  

This idea of utilizing the most valuable part of its electric vehicles—the batteries—after they’ve lived their first life in one of the vehicles (or have been declared terminated post some accident) is new and golden. Nissan is making a bullish push into the energy storage industry, and it does it on three fronts at once: using homes as powerhouses; off-grid power storage; electricity generator park.  

The storage system Nissan proposes, the xStorage, is the result of a collaboration with Eaton Industries. The xStorage can have three power options: 3.6 kilowatts, 4.6 kW or 6kW. There are two battery options, 4.2 kW or 6kW. The average unit weighs nearly 300 pounds (135 kg).  

Benefits of the system include: 

• Increased independence from the national grid and electricity providers 
• Cost reduction on your electricity bill of up to 66 percent 

• The ability to generate, store and manage energy for use overnight (despite cloudy weather) and charge Nissan electric vehicles. 

A six-panel system costs about $5,383 including installation. Full solar and storage systems start at roughly $10,589. This solar plus electric vehicles is clearly a match made in heaven. According to CleanTechnica, about 32 percent of the electric driving respondents have also installed rooftop solar power.

In addition, this type of solar scheme has real the power to improve life anywhere else in the world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 29 percent of greenhouse gases came from transportation in 2016, and 28 percent from electricity.