Emergency Power for your House from your LEAF

[Ingineer]

From this Article:

Nissan eyes powering your house from your car

The vehicle's batteries can be charged at night when power is cheaper and used during the day

By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

August 02, 2011, 5:14 AM — In a twist on conventional charging for electric cars, Nissan has developed a system that allows a vehicle to supply electricity to power a house.

A prototype of the charging system running on a Nissan Leaf electric car was unveiled in Japan on Tuesday. The system can be used to supply electricity to a house during a power outage or shortage. A two-way charging device that would typically convert the household electricity supply to a voltage suitable for charging the car's battery can be reversed to feed power back into the household circuit.

The lithium ion batteries in a Leaf can story up to 24kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity, which Nissan estimates is sufficient to power an average Japanese home for about two days. That means if the system was used for a few hours during the day, the car would still retain enough power to make trips.

If the system is used regularly, it could also help cut energy bills. By charging the car overnight, when power demand is low and electricity is cheaper, the stored energy in the battery can be released in the daytime when electricity costs are higher.

Some companies already offer dedicated lithium ion storage batteries for just this purpose. Nissan's system accomplishes the same goal with the batteries already fitted in the car, which would be an advantage for owners of electric cars.

Nissan plans to commercialize the system sometime before April 2012, said Shiro Nagai [cq], a spokesman for Nissan in Yokohama. Models for the overseas market will likely follow but will first have to be designed for local electricity supply systems, he said.

The company did not announce pricing details.

Nissan is announcing the system as energy saving measures are at the forefront of Japanese minds. Power outages and shortages were rare in Japan until this year. The accidents in March at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant left a dent in Tokyo Electric Power's generation capability that has been subsequently compounded by additional reactors being taken offline for safety checks.

The Tokyo area suffered a series of blackouts in March, soon after the earthquake and tsunami that hit the region, and more are possible. The potential shortfall in electricity supply has put the country on a power-saving mission.

Car companies like Nissan have shifted to a Saturday to Wednesday work week while other companies have adjusted work patterns. Lights have been dimmed across the country, escalators are switched off at railway stations and households are being urged to keep air conditioners off during the daytime.

The power saving measures are having a real effect.

On Tuesday, as Nissan was announcing the new system, electricity demand in Tokyo was hovering around 37 billion watts, well below TEPCO's peak generating capacity for the day of 50 billion watts. Last year on the same day the Tokyo region was consuming over 55 billion watts at peak time.

 

[thankyouOB]

very cool.
even my PV cant do that without a dedicated battery.
Now, I have one.

 

[mxp]

Will the current Blink EVSE be able to support putting back power from the Leaf battery into the existing home's breaker and circuits?

I can't imagine regular families forking out more $$$ to Nissan and purchase yet another gizmo to utilize this feature.....

 

[RikiTiki]

So you're telling me the Nissan Leaf could work like one of those fancey stand-by generators that keep the lights and TV's on in the house during short power failures? That would be totally cool!

I would totally buy an add-on to the leaf & whatever household wiring alterations so that the Nissan Leaf could do that. If thats what you're saying? To cool Nissan GO FOR IT!!!

RikiTiki

 

[Devin]

I like this idea, but it probably doesn't work so well for those of us with separate lines of electric service for the EVSE only. LADWP (with the old rebate requirements) wanted me to install a completely separate meter and line connecting the EVSE to the grid independent of the rest of the house.

I guess I'll have to stick to an inverter for emergencies for now. Luckily the main things I'd need to run during the first couple days of an emergency is my cell phone and amateur radio gear. The cell phone plugs into the USB port and the radio plugs in to the cigarette lighter. Combined with that little solar panel on the trunk I should have some decent capability. When/if I run out of electrons in the LEAF I could switch to using the Prius as a generator for smallish loads with the inverter.

 

[thew]

This is perfect. As my home is Solar Powered with a 20kWh Battery back up. I would love to use the LEAF Pack as an addition to my Homes pack during the day. This 2 way transmission of volts to and from the LEAF is something we have been looking for.

 

[DarkStar]

Will the current Blink EVSE be able to support putting back power from the Leaf battery into the existing home's breaker and circuits?

I can't imagine regular families forking out more $$$ to Nissan and purchase yet another gizmo to utilize this feature.....

Without a lot of modifications to the Leaf? No. Now if Nissan uses the CHAdeMO port (like I suspect), it would be quite easy to connect an external inverter to the Leaf battery pack.

 

[Ingineer]

The Current LEAF is not equipped for this function, and there is no way to do it back through J1772.

If they implement it on future LEAFs, it will be a separate interface and will require a special transfer switch just as an emergency generator would.

-Phil

 

[TomT]

That's less than 1/2 KwH consumption... They must not use much power in the typical home in Japan...

I think my 3.5Kw portable generator is a better solution for emergencies...

The lithium ion batteries in a Leaf can story up to 24kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity, which Nissan estimates is sufficient to power an average Japanese home for about two days.

 

[thew]

My Solar Fed 20 KwH Battery back up will power all of my important circuits for about 3 weeks with no sun.. It drives a 50 amp sub panel. Most of the Kitchen, Fridge, T.v, Computers. Home office, Security Cameras a Driveway gate, security lighting and the LEAF.

So They are really spot on. In Japan homes are small. So I bet a 50amp service is more than they need.

That's less than 1/2 KwH consumption... They must not use much power in the typical home in Japan...

I think my 3.5Kw portable generator is a better solution for emergencies...

The lithium ion batteries in a Leaf can story up to 24kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity, which Nissan estimates is sufficient to power an average Japanese home for about two days.

 

[DaveEV]

The Current LEAF is not equipped for this function, and there is no way to do it back through J1772.

If they implement it on future LEAFs, it will be a separate interface and will require a special transfer switch just as an emergency generator would.

This article says it uses the stock CHAdeMO plug on current vehicles and only modifications to the house are needed.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/08/the-big-chargeback-leaf-powers-house/

If needed, electricity stored in Nissan LEAF can be supplied to a house by connecting the car to the house’s electricity distribution panel using a connector linked to the LEAF’s quick charging port. The connector complies with the CHAdeMO Association’s protocol for quick chargers.

Current Nissan LEAF owners can use the system as long as they make the needed adjustments to the home wiring. More information (in Japanese) here.

Anyone know Japanese?

 

[greenleaf]

I assume whatever equipment they are making would limit the discharge of the batteries to not go below a certain threshold?

 

[Ingineer]

This article says it uses the stock CHAdeMO plug on current vehicles and only modifications to the house are needed.

The picture shows the $15,000 Nissan CHAdeMO quick charger, I think it's just a stock photo and some creative interpretation. Given that the CHAdeMO plug/cable alone costs thousands, (the cost of a nice generator) I expect this solution to end up somewhere north of $5k (optimistically). That will buy a pad-mounted emergency generator with auto-start, and it will run as long as there's fuel.

If they were to build the inverter into the car as an option, with just a simple standard outlet, you could plug the house into the car with a interlocking transfer switch and have a viable solution. This is how Toyota is implementing their system on the Prius. The cool thing about the Prius system, is that you can run as long as you can keep fuel in the car.

-Phil

 

[aqn]

Battery Charge Control: Dedicated ICs vs Microcontrollers:
"It’s likely that the distributed energy storage in EV and household and business backup power systems will be used for power grid peak load management when the nation-wide smart-grid becomes a reality. This will require that the charging system also be synched to the grid inverter so that the battery can source as well as consume power to/from the grid. Robust communication through the charger with the BMS will be a requirement for these integrated systems so that the smart grid can maintain information about battery status and capabilities."

 

[smkettner]

By the time I spend money for a transfer switch and connections I would prefer to just have a generator to both run the house and charge the vehicle. I would also sooner buy stationary batteries before I thought about connecting the Leaf. Getting 3.3 kW into the Leaf is already ~$2000 minimum (AV). I can only imagine what it would cost to get the power out of the Leaf and into the house circuits.

 

[CWO4Mann]

I have had some 30 years of experience in various back-up and uninterrupted power systems dedicated to large military communications centers. The scenarios I read about here are all ones which require a fairly large outlay of capital -- perhaps $5,000 to $15,000 or more. No matter what kind of back up system you are going to use, make sure you have access to fuel. Wind and solar systems can disregard this axiom, of course. I've been in situations where we were without "commercial" power for months at a time and relied upon "prime-power" generators. Prime-power gensets are those designed for 24/7 operation under load. There are very few prime-power gensets available for less than $10K, BTW. If you plan ahead, you can store a 55-gallon drum of gasoline or diesel fuel and simply stick a hose in the bung and run that hose to your fuel intake or even syphon into the existing tank. 55 gallons may get you through a couple of weeks of intermittent use. Then you will need to find more fuel. Propane in cylinders are more practical since they can be stored almost indefinitely. We ran one commo relay site on a mountain top with a 500 gallon propane tank and a 10KW Onan genset for several months -- a good thing since we had to use a helicopter to get the gear up to the top. But, again, when you run out of fuel, you have to find some more someplace. Natural gas as it is piped to your residence is a very handy and inexpensive fuel but the disadvantage there is that when the natural gas pumps go down at the centeral distribution facility, you run out of gas. Natural gas carburators can be easily modifed to use methane from active biomass effluent, such as manure, but the infrastructure to capture the gas requires a prodigious effort. In the case of a communal hold-out area, say a small survivalist group, the human and other animal manure is a very possible alternative fuel. Next, take a look at just how much electricity you actually need. In many cases by alternating the loads you can use a smaller genset than one sized for a full load. In other words, run the water pump to pull water from the well or stream to an elevated tank; then run the genset to charge batteries, etc etc. Finally, plan on whether you as a generator operator will become a target should there be a societal breakdown. Chances are that you will, particularly if you live in one of the cities where there is a history of urban violence or agitation.

 

[brettcgb]

The Current LEAF is not equipped for this function, and there is no way to do it back through J1772.

If they implement it on future LEAFs, it will be a separate interface and will require a special transfer switch just as an emergency generator would.

This article says it uses the stock CHAdeMO plug on current vehicles and only modifications to the house are needed.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... ers-house/

If needed, electricity stored in Nissan LEAF can be supplied to a house by connecting the car to the house’s electricity distribution panel using a connector linked to the LEAF’s quick charging port. The connector complies with the CHAdeMO Association’s protocol for quick chargers.

Current Nissan LEAF owners can use the system as long as they make the needed adjustments to the home wiring. More information (in Japanese) here.

Anyone know Japanese?

Google Translate suggests this site is about the Japanese building code, architecture and lifestyle, and is not strongly energy or technology related.

 

[brettcgb]

The Current LEAF is not equipped for this function, and there is no way to do it back through J1772.

If they implement it on future LEAFs, it will be a separate interface and will require a special transfer switch just as an emergency generator would.

This article says it uses the stock CHAdeMO plug on current vehicles and only modifications to the house are needed.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... ers-house/

If needed, electricity stored in Nissan LEAF can be supplied to a house by connecting the car to the house’s electricity distribution panel using a connector linked to the LEAF’s quick charging port. The connector complies with the CHAdeMO Association’s protocol for quick chargers.

Current Nissan LEAF owners can use the system as long as they make the needed adjustments to the home wiring. More information (in Japanese) here.

Anyone know Japanese?

I'd be willing to bet that the only thing needed to enable the CHAdeMO port for outputting energy is a command from the EVSE to connect the port to the battery. Level 3 (DC) chargers would already implement that command.

I've long thought that I'd like to tap directly into the HV battery bus to attach an inverter (60Hz 3.5kW 240V, split phase output would be ideal). The CHAdeMO port could make that possible if it can be turned on for discharge (seems likely). Between an inverter, and the existing modified Level 1 EVSE interface, one vehicle could rescue another (given time), or power a house during a power failure.

For the rescue, efficiency would be poor, but the system would be good enough to provide 5-10 miles additional range for the stuck car.

For the power failure, I'd probably run cables on the floor as a separate distribution system rather than install a permanent bus transfer switch (its only 3.5kW, and limited duration at that).

 

[Ingineer]

Yes the CHAdeMO port can indeed serve power back out, but there is no way for the J1772 port to have this function, as previously suggested.

I have implemented a high-efficiency 2kW inverter solution the connects directly to the Leaf, with no permanent modifications needed, and can be used underway as well. I demonstrated it at the Nissan meeting at the google campus earlier this month, and will be happy to show it off at the next BayLEAFs meeting again. It is not yet a product for sale, but it may be at some point.

There is no reason why this can't be scaled up, with only cost as a limit to size. I selected 2kW, as that is a reasonable size to power almost any appliance. Keep in mind the Leaf's pack is only 24kWh, so you could only pull a full 2kW load for less than 12 hours. I see it used for small loads in emergencies, not backing up your whole house, as there just isn't much battery to go around, and as such it is silly to consider adding a transfer switch and all the extra expense of a larger inverter.

-Phil

 

[lpickup]

I have implemented a high-efficiency 2kW inverter solution the connects directly to the Leaf, with no permanent modifications needed

Sounds perfect for a tailgate!