Japanese City Lights to Be Powered by Nissan Leaf Batteries

As the world’s first and most successful EV, the Nissan Leaf, heads quickly into its tenth year of production, the world might soon be faced with a plethora of hard-to-dispose-of lithium-ion batteries.

Only a few automakers – read two – have announced plans to recycle EV batteries and give them additional use beyond their initial goal.

The first is French group PSA, which announced in February it will test the use of second-life batteries from Renault electric vehicles as storage for power coming from solar and wind farms on the islands of the Madeira archipelago in Portugal.

The second is Nissan, which on Wednesday said batteries initially used on Nissan Leaf vehicles, combined with solar panels, would be used to power streetlights in the Japanese city of Namie.

The system developed by Nissan together with 4R Energy Corporation can operate completely off-grid, requiring no electric cables or outlets. This technology could eventually be used in remote areas where there’s no energy or in the aftermath of natural disasters, when power grids are taken down.

Should the initial testing to be done on March 26 prove successful, Nissan plans to make the system available on a massive scale, promising to become a world changing technology.

“We will turn the spread of the electric vehicle into an opportunity to spread batteries,” Nissan says in the video below.

“We believe it can change the world. Even when batteries no longer serve to power cars, they can be reborn to keep serving humans.”

More details about Nissan’s plan, which at first glance seems as exciting as they come, can be found on the carmaker’s official website. More details will follow after the Monday test.