Reverse The Charge: Car Powers House, Japan Style
In the days and weeks after March 11 2011, when a giant fist wiped out large swaths of Japan’s northeastern coast, and sent the power grid into a near-coma from which the Japanese patient has yet to recover, electric and hybrid vehicles were pressed into a new mission as emergency power supplies. People in the stricken areas used the batteries of their Toyota Estima hybrid minivan, or the much bigger battery of the Nissan Leaf, as a power source for cell phones and laptops when the regular power was out. Ever since, Japanese became infatuated with the idea of rigging a car to a house – to power the house, if needed. One year later, houses are ready to take charge from a car.
Yesterday, Nissan showed an air conditioner-sized charging station for the Leaf that allows to also send the electricity stored in the Leaf’s battery back to the home when needed. The system does not need special rigging, simply insert the CHAdeMO plug in the car and you can go both ways. Normally, the system functions as an intelligent DC charger that can fully charge a Leaf in as little as four hours, approximately half the time required by a normal charger. When disaster strikes, the Leaf’s lithium-ion batteries can supply an average Japanese household for about two days.
Today, at a Smart Grid Expo in Tokyo, Toyota showed-off its solution. Instead of a $4,200 (installed) Nissan/ Nichicon charger, Toyota will sell you a whole house. Toyota is in the prefab house business and is promoting its “Asuie” smart house. It comes with a solar roof and brains that allow homeowners to store free or low-priced electricity for use during peak times. The house has a charger for electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles. Instead of using the smallish battery of a plug-in-hybrid, the house comes with its own dedicated battery. A charge-back function (car to house) does not seem to be ready for prime-time, but is “feasible” as we were told today. During prolonged outages, a Prius would have more stamina than a Leaf. Whereas a Leaf’s battery would be flat after two days of home use, a plug-in hybrid Prius with a full tank of gas could keep the lights on at home for 10 days, we had learned last year when a prototype of the house was shown. Either that, or drive away after 5 days of roughing it.
The fledgling home charging industry already spawned its own accessory market. A few booths away from Toyota, Japanese Technos company shows metal armor that protects the charging cord from the machetes used by what must be suicidal criminals.
Also nearby, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan shows a Chevy Volt. Not being connected to any houses or even a fake charging station, the car is being ignored by the public.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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how much do small honda IC generators cost again? If you lived in an area with regular power outages, an IC genset is and has been the thing to do for decades. This argument as a reason to go with EVs seems like a stretch.
I suppose people with one car, who live where some of you guys do, may never have need for a home generating car. Here in hurricane country, it would be great. There are lots of minor storms, and lots of people could run down one car keeping the other for evacuation. The natural gas generators are great, but the portables are hard work and maintenance concerns. Both cost money and sit around while using your car adds less expense and maintenance. You can still store fuel for it. I think this is one of those geography things, like AWD cars, that make no sense to some people while being a no brainier for others.