“Nissan kick-started the electric vehicle revolution almost a decade ago. In that time we’ve sold more EV’s than any other manufacturer on the planet. Now, we’re outlining our plans for the next decade, which will see even bigger investments in infrastructure, new battery advances and will even change the way people access and pay for the power in their cars," said Nissan Europe chairman Paul Willcox.
Such chargers include a new 7kW double-speed charger for the home and a 22kW charger for businesses as well as a 100% renewable energy storage and charging unit.
The double speed 7kW home charger allows Nissan electric vehicle (EV) owners to achieve 100% charge in just 5.5 hours – a 70% reduction in charging time from the previous charging technology.
A new home energy storage system was also showcased, which follows on from the success of xStorage that was created specially for EV owners where customers can plug in their EV directly into the wall box to charge.
This comes with its own built in energy storage system, giving customers the ability to better manage their energy costs and even generate their own electricity from solar panels, delivering 100% renewable and zero emission power for their car.
Ultimately, the company aims to boost its fast charger infrastructure network by 20%, with 1,000 quick charger installations - from 4,600 to 5,600, over a span of 18 months with the company's ground-breaking bi-directional charging technology.
This means, once a nominal charge has been paid by the business for the installation of a V2G charger there are no fuel or energy costs - just free power for EVs.
Other than Denmark, the company also announced that it is collaborating with the UK so that customers who purchase an xStorage home energy unit at a discounted price are able to also ‘sell’ back energy to the grid.
This helps contribute to grid stability in a world where demand for energy is increasing due to a growing, urbanising population and can result in an additional expected income for users averaging £350 / €400 (RM2,000) per year.
The company also further outlined its plans to expand its existing CHAdeMO EV fast charging standard for outdoor charging networks by 20% over the next 18 months. There are currently over 4,600 quick chargers across the region.
It follows the success of Nissan’s existing xStorage solution, which was developed in partnership with Eaton and has sold more than 1,000 units across Europe in just three months, with 5,000 units expected to be sold by the end of March 2018.
The company expects to sell 100,000 home energy units by the end of 2020 in Europe and the new range of home and office charging units will be available from early 2018 onwards.
Nissan is already exploring other regions in Europe to make free power for EVs a milestone for the future.
The company's announcements were made during its third Nissan Futures event - ‘The Car and Beyond’, that was recently held in Oslow, Norway.
The new Leaf is capable of travelling 378km on a single charge and possesses features such as the semi-autonomous ProPILOT system, ProPILOT Park or ease of parking and e-Pedal (a single pedal for braking and accelerating).
Another new product was announced during the event with the re-introduction of the all-electric e-NV200 with an added 100km range to 280km on a single – a 60% improvement on range, without having to increase the size or weight of the battery.
