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By Douglas Stansfield Jun 8 2015 - 9:43pm

What Nissan LEAF Drivers Don't Have to Fear

EV Batteries are bad for the environment aren't they? Think again. See how Nissan is reusing LEAF batteries.
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News coming out of Japan yesterday via a Youtube video shows the renewable energy system being used at the corporate headquarters of Nissan. The company has started taking the used Nissan LEAF batteries out of decommissioned early model year Nissan Leafs and installed them inside the building. The large solar array on the roof of the complex is now capturing the suns energy and storing it inside the used Nissan Leaf batteries!

Next, the stacked used Nissan Leaf Batteries are then funneled outside to awaiting Electric Vehicle Charging stations. This allows for the older Nissan Leaf batteries to help charge the newer Nissan Leaf batteries. Talk about a great way to recycle! It turns out that the used Nissan Leaf batteries retain about 80% of their original capacity. Thus, stringing them together gives the opportunity to harness the power of the sun and to recharge the new Nissan Leaf cars used at the Headquarters facility.

Think of the way this can be done in the future with the decommissioning of the existing fleet of Nissan Leafs. As the battery pack loses its usefulness inside the car itself, the battery pack can then be “redeployed” as a stationary electrical storage system.

Maybe one day, the vehicle to grid concept will truly take hold and existing Leaf drivers could have the car act as a generator in times of grid power outage. V2G is a great concept and the proof of recycling used EV batteries is not something that Nissan Drivers will ever have to worry about.

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Comments

Bob smith wrote on June 9, 2015 - 4:09am
Please stop stating unproven myths out of context like: "EV Batteries are bad for the environment aren't they?" Both the Nissan LEAF and Tesla Model S come with a 100,000 mile battery warranty. After a battery can hold a useable charge most components will be recyed into new batteries (this goes beyond secondary use of EV batteries in a fixed location energy storage function). So again, how are batteries bad for the environment? Compare this to extracting fossil fuel liquids extracted from deep underground. How much heavy metals, arsenic, radon, and other harmfull products are borough tot the surface to make fuel for 100,000 miles?
alikhds wrote on June 9, 2015 - 2:58pm
Bob, the author means the production of EV batteries, which yes, are bad for the environment. I read that every battery production is bad for the environment. So the longer usage helps a lot.
Douglas Stansfield wrote on June 9, 2015 - 4:53pm
Lead Acid Batteries can be recycled, so can LiFePo4 batteries and other Lithium based chemistry. Lithium is actually a medicine for certain illnesses. Most of the Li batteries are Aluminum layers which is recyclable. So the long we keep them working and in use the better and the recycling can happen after their useful life is gone....