When it comes to PR for energy storage and lithium-ion batteries not many are working harder than Japanese OEM Nissan at the moment.
Whether it’s second-life energy storage systems, whispers of potential deals from European start-ups or joint developments, the company currently has interests in many areas.
Lets start with the joint development between Nissan Motor and its subsidiary Nissan Arc.
The company hopes to have found a way to extend driving range of its electric vehicles (EV) using an atomic analysis methodology.
The analysis examined the structure of amorphous silicon monoxide (SiO), in the battery’s electrode structure during charging cycles.
The new methodology proved the amorphous structure of SiO is resistant to deterioration during charging cycles, unlike silicon in its crystalline form, allowing the storage of a larger number of lithium-ions.
The breakthrough came after a joint R&D programme between Nissan Arc, Tohoku University, the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
The contents of this release have been published online in the British multidisciplinary science journal, ‘Nature Communications’ on May 13, 2016.
Meanwhile earlier this month Nissan and power management firm Eaton unveiled a 4.2KWh residential lithium-ion energy storage system (ESS). The company will go head-to-head with its many rivals in this market with a price tag of €4,000 (£3200).
The ‘xStorage’ can be linked to renewable energy sources for peak-shaving or excess energy can be sold to the grid. It is due to be ready for pre-order from September 2016.
The launch came a month after Nissan announced it was to use to 64 used lithium-ion batteries from its Leaf EVs in a 1MWh ESS with 100 vehicle-to-grid chargers from Nissan’s partner Enel installed.
Nissan’s thinking on what to do with the eight million EV batteries it has produced since 1986 in the UK appears to rest with using them in second-life ESSs at the moment.
So when BBB received a call from Herve Mathiasin at the French start-up Smart Green Charge, it was easy to see how the dots joined-up to make the bigger picture.
Although the deal is still in negotiations, Mathiasin hopes to secure 10,000 lithium-ion batteries from the firm every year to power his company’s smart charge 340 to 1,000kW ESS.
The turnkey product will be built at service stations to power EVs and the building (like a micro-grid) using renewable energy. The first is due to be built either in Germany or France, Mathiasin told BBB.
