Tech EVs as emergency power source

Interesting concept: Panasonic developed a vehicle-to-home power system that kicks in as an emergency power source if the electricity grid goes down during natural disasters. It can provide the energy needs of a family of four for about four days.

Panasonic says the system can cut power bills by around 60 percent. It expects demand to be high, even though the equipment costs about 4.5 million yen, or 34,000 dollars. Major trading house Sumitomo Corporation is also planning to use EVs to power offices or machinery. It will launch a new subsidiary in April to lease EVs and chargers. Employees of the companies which rent the system can commute in the vehicles, which will then be used to store power while they work. The electricity can either be used on site, or at home after the employees drive back.

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Panasonic, which leads Japan's market for standard EV chargers and solar panels, starts sales of its vehicle-to-home (V2H) system in February. It will market the product through 5,000 business partners from electrical contractors to homebuilders. [...] V2H systems can serve as an emergency power source during natural disasters. Nissan Motor's top-end Leaf EV carries a 60-kilowatt-hour battery -- as much power as a typical family uses in four days. Its Sakura mini electric vehicle comes with a 20 kWh battery, still larger than the typical home battery in the 5 to 10 kWh range.

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Paywall alert:

Its a good use of that expensive battery.

I still marvel that home batteries are not more common given the options for home electricity generation are typically wind and solar, neither of which provide constant power.

I recently heard that nickel-iron batteries are being used by some people in Australia which is truly smart. They last for decades, are extremely fool proof, and are non-toxic, and recyclable.

The only downside of using these lithium batteries in the car for home power use is that it will surely shorten the life of the battery and lithium has so many downsides. I would rather have the nickel-iron battery as a back-up for the home, but its still a good use of that car battery in the inter-rim.