Nissan and Hitachi successfully tested a full-capacity elevator to run for 10 hours by drawing power from fully charged EV batteries.
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Hitachi Ltd subsidiary intend to roll out a system to keep elevators running during power cuts by using power from electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
In a recent pilot project first reported by Reuters, Nissan and Hitachi successfully kept an elevator running at slow speed, at total capacity (nine people), for 10 hours. The test was an early attempt in earthquake-prone Japan to make wider use of EV batteries when the power supply is disrupted.
Using power from an EV is called bi-directional charging (or vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-home, and vehicle-to-everything), making EVs a power source for homes, or to feed energy back into the grid. Ford’s F-150 Lightning and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 are among the latest EVs capable of bi-directional charging.
The power for the test came exclusively from the battery of a fully charged Nissan Sakura, a fully electric micro “kei” car. The V2X system uses the CHAdeMO charging standard supported by Nissan, a Hitachi Building Systems executive reportedly said. This system facilitates drawing power from larger Nissan EVs, such as the Ariya and Leaf models.
Director of Hitachi Building Systems’ domestic business management division, Tatsunori Takahashi, reportedly said that the company would provide the system for apartment buildings, from April 2023.
This is not the first time EVs are being used for bi-directional charging. Automakers and local governments in the US have discussed using EVs to keep power available during emergencies such as the Texas blackouts in February 2021. Many automakers such as General Motors have announced plans to develop systems where EV owners can power their homes and sell excess power back to the grid.
