According to reports, Nissan has developed a portable power source using the batteries from its old Leaf electric vehicle. The EV battery will be given a new lease of life as a portable power station to run gadgets on the go or deliver emergency power whenever required.<\/p>\n
The portable power source has been developed by Nissan, in partnership with JVCKenwood Corp & 4R Energy Corp – a company co-owned by Nissan and Sumitomo Corp, which works on ecological vehicles & power storage solutions.<\/p>\n
Reports state that Nissan officials test the batteries in Leafs after their owner stops driving them and then make use of those which are capable of holding a charge. The Nissan Leaf uses 48 battery modules, while the portable power source developed contains 2 modules. The reuse of EV batteries helps sustainability as most of them are manufactured using rare earth metals & other raw materials.<\/p>\n
Balakumar Balasingam, an associate professor at the University of Windsor, (not involved in the Nissan project), stated that batteries with charge capacities below 80% can no longer be used to drive electric cars. However, they can still be used for other purposes. He stated, “Retired EV batteries have great potential in energy storage applications.” He added, “Without such a solution, billions of EV battery packs will be made and then prematurely recycled in the next decade. That will be a problem for sustainability.<\/p>\n