Slashdot Mirror
Japan Wants To Boost the Use of Electric Vehicles as a Power Source During Natural Disasters (qz.com)
Japan, a country which frequently suffers natural calamities such as tsunamis, typhoons, and earthquakes is looking to further harness the power of batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) during such disasters, local media reports. From a report: Nissan, which produces the Leaf, the world's best-selling EV model, plans to hold an event in March to let people stay overnight in their cars and try using the electricity stored in their car batteries to simulate the experience of being in an emergency, according to Japanese newswire Jiji. A fully charged electric vehicle can supply power to a standard home for up to four days, a Nissan official told the news outlet. The company last year came to an agreement with Tokyo's Nerima Ward and the city of Yokosuka to provide EVs for free in emergency situations. Nerima also last year (link in Japanese) implemented a system whereby owners of EVs would be able to loan their vehicles out for free to those in need during a disaster, and also started using EVs for its fleet of police patrol cars.
Back with the fukushima disaster in japan they were raiding the batteries from the cars in the company parking lot to keep the controls and monitor equipment running.
Also 4 days?! I know a EV holds a lot of juice but if it can really run a home with lights and HVAC for days it should already be being sold as a home backup option.
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
Every time I point this out, the EV advocates mod me down. The Nissan Leaf comes with a 40 kWh battery, approximately 80% of which is usable (32 kWh). Charging efficiency happens to be about 80%, so you need to use about 40 kWh of electricity to top the battery off with 32 kWh.
The average American home uses 10,399 kWh in a year, or about 28.5 kWh per day. (Apparently a typical Japanese home uses a lot less.) So half-charging a Leaf every day (roughly 50 miles/day use) increases household electricity consumption by (20 kWh / 28.5 kWh) = 0.7 = 70%. Since all that additional electricity consumption happens overnight, if every house has an EV then suddenly the peak electricity consumption period switches from mid-day to overnight. And the lower electricity prices people are expecting to pay to recharge their EV evaporates. Moreso if there's significant solar power generation in the grid. Since solar provides electricity only during the day, the electricity during night to charge all these EVs will have to come from generators the power companies can spool up to meet the overnight demand spike. (Storing solar power in batteries for overnight use is not cost-effective unless solar generation exceeds 100% of daytime consumption. It makes no sense to run other power generators during the day just so you can store solar power in batteries for use during the night, when you can just use the solar power directly during the day (avoiding battery losses) and run the other power generators during the night.)
Meaning you're going to be paying the highest electricity rates to charge your EV, not the lowest. Modding me down doesn't change this truth. The same truth that lets your EV battery power your home for more than a day, also means the power pricing peak will invert when every home has an EV charging overnight.