Nissan wants you to know Tesla doesn't have a lock on 'sustainable transport'
LONDON -- Nissan threw an incredibly lavish event this week, 180 meters above the streets of London at the top of the city’s Gherkin building.
Under the iconic glass dome, journalists from across Europe mingled as a member of Clean Bandit spun tunes, and beams of light powered by a Nissan Leaf shot out into the sky.
Nissan was definitely trying to make a big splash and showed off some interesting technologies and announced a series of partnerships. But the event was really about Nissan staking its claim in the green energy space as it pertains to transportation -- an area where discussion is often dominated by Elon Musk's Tesla Motors.
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Musk likes to say Tesla is in the business of "sustainable transport." At the company's events he often points paints a lofty picture of all cars being powered by electricity, working with smart grids, solar panels and home batteries to ensure most if not all of that energy comes from renewable sources.
With its event, Nissan sent the message that Musk and Tesla don't have a lock on sustainable transportation. The Nissan xStorage battery, a new home energy storage device to rival Tesla’s Powerwall, was the obvious headliner, offering 4.2 kilowatt-hours (kWh) to Tesla’s 6.4kWh at a comparable price. But the company went much further than that, pushing its vision for connected, green streets and cities.
Entitled the Fuel Station of the Future, Nissan's concept is a partnership with architects Foster + Partners, who designed the Gherkin as well as countless other key buildings and spaces across the world.
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The concept, which combines renewable energy, vehicle-to-grid technology, wireless charging, autonomous parking and smartwatches, aims to see traditional petrol stations completely phased out as towns and cities move towards purely renewable energy.
Nissan envisages smart streets where cars and houses are all connected, with clean energy “a free commodity to be shared among the city and its people".
Essentially their fuel station of the future is the home, the street, the car and the city itself.
Foster + Partners see the concept as part of a larger shift.
“The scale of this challenge is enormous,” the company’s head of design, David Nelson, said. “As it touches every aspect of human existence it therefore requires simultaneous action on energy, jobs, food production, and transportation etc.
"The task is so complex that all studies appear as vignettes to the bigger picture. The mobility study with Nissan is one of those vignettes. Transport, linked to energy production, storage and the physical effects on our cities, is a big piece of the equation.”
The Fuel Station of the Future is an ambitious and worthy idea, but the reality is a long way off. However, Nissan says it's taking steps in that direction.
In terms of autonomy, and the idea of cars parking and charging themselves, the manufacturer is installing the first iteration of its "Piloted Drive" technology in its Qashqai cars at their Sunderland plant from 2017. It will allow the car to drive autonomously in a single lane in heavy traffic conditions on highways, they say.
As for cars giving power back to the home or the grid, the xStorage battery will be available to buy in September this year. It will draw energy from renewable sources, such as solar panels on the roof of a home, or from the Nissan Leaf, and can take in energy when demand and prices are low and give it back when prices are high.
Nissan says the battery, which was designed by the company and constructed in partnership with Eaton Electrical, could save consumers £600 ($800) a year in energy costs.
The company also announced a partnership with power company Enel and the National Grid, the UK's electricity provider, Tuesday.
The first vehicle-to-grid trial in the UK, running from now until December, it will allow 100 electric car owners to plug their vehicle into a V2G charger and sell their unused energy back to the grid.
At their Gherkin event, Nissan also hosted a number of related start-ups, including Pavegen, who has designed a flooring system that creates power from footsteps and wireless charging company Chargifi.
Nissan Europe's Paul Willcox predicted "a decade of disruption" in the automative industry over the next 10 years, adding that "the forecast for 2050 is the doubling of the number of cars on the road to 2.4 billion."
"Ensuring sustainability requires some really smart thinking," he added. “Fortunately we have some smart solutions to start the process. We’re providing a financial incentive to customers to choose a sustainable option. We think the potential is enormous.”
Nissan is putting its money where its mouth is, promising that the vehicle-to-grid system and xStorage batteries unveiled Tuesday will power its businesses by 2017.
It's clearly making a bid to out-green Tesla and position itself firmly as a leader in the sustainable sector. The final announcement of the day was that 50,000 Leaf vehicles have rolled off the production line in the UK.
For many drivers, though, getting more range from their cars is a more pressing concern than future smart cities.
Gareth Dunsmore, Nissan Europe’s Head of Electric Vehicles, wouldn’t be drawn by Mashable on when the company will turn over a new Leaf, and unveil a successor to the wildly successful electric car that might match the Chevy Bolt or the Tesla Model 3 in terms of range, both of which promise 200+ miles.
Instead he pointed to the latest Leaf, which has a range of 155 miles, and said that improvements in range, price and design were made every few years.
"Every couple of years we are stepping forward," he said.
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Topics Electric Vehicles Tesla
Tim Chester was Senior Editor, Real Time News in Los Angeles. Before that he was Deputy Editor of Mashable UK in London. Prior to joining Mashable, Tim was a Senior Web Editor at Penguin Random House, helping to relaunch the Rough Guides website and other travel brands. He was also a writer for Buzzfeed, GQ and The Sunday Times, covering everything from culture to tech and current affairs. Before that, he was Deputy Editor at NME.COM, overseeing content and development on the London-based music and entertainment site. Tim loves music and travel and has combined these two passions at festivals from Iceland to Malawi and beyond.
