Nissan will soon have a Tesla Powerwall competitor for Europeans

Scorpus

Posts: 2,159   +239
Staff member

Tesla's Powerwall has a new competitor in Europe, with Nissan announcing a similar home battery pack system called xStorage that will be available to homeowners in September.

There is only one model of the xStorage with a rated capacity of 4.2 kWh, which Nissan will be selling for €4,000 or £3,200 (approximately US$4,600). This is quite a bit more expensive than Tesla's 6.4 kWh Powerwall, which costs $3,000, although the price of the xStorage includes installation whereas the Powerwall's installation is an additional cost.

The batteries inside the xStorage appear to be coming from Nissan's electric cars. When the performance of a battery unit in a car starts to degrade after 10 years or so, these batteries can be repurposed for home energy storage where the slightly degraded performance is a non-issue.

Paul Wilcox, Chairman of Nissan Europe, said that the xStorage will provide “a sustainable ‘second life’ for Nissan’s electric vehicle (EV) batteries after their first life in cars is over.”

The xStorage's companion app will allow owners to monitor their energy usage and easily switch between consuming power from the battery or from the grid. The system will be particularly useful for those with solar panels, although it could also come in handy during blackouts, or for those wanting to store up power during off peak periods where energy is cheaper.

At this stage there are no plans to bring the xStorage system to the United States or other territories, with Nissan focusing solely on Europe.

Permalink to story.

 
“a sustainable ‘second life’ for Nissan’s electric vehicle (EV) batteries after their first life in cars is over.”

oh now it makes sense. I thought you were supposed to power your house with your car and make the battery die sooner so they can sell more cars. Silly cynical me.
 
One of the first feasible ideas, but who will be working with them to insure compatibility or should the homeowner just start attaching wires and hope the thing works?!?!?! Relays, regulators, solar panels, etc will all need to be compatible so having a rudimentary design with a few recommended components will certainly make it a lot more popular. Of course if they choose to "sell" all of this it will drive down the popularity in direct proportion to what ever silly sales number they assign.

Still, all in all it is a good approach. Let's just see what other brand name companies expand on the idea.
 
One of the first feasible ideas, but who will be working with them to insure compatibility or should the homeowner just start attaching wires and hope the thing works?!?!?! Relays, regulators, solar panels, etc will all need to be compatible so having a rudimentary design with a few recommended components will certainly make it a lot more popular. Of course if they choose to "sell" all of this it will drive down the popularity in direct proportion to what ever silly sales number they assign.

Still, all in all it is a good approach. Let's just see what other brand name companies expand on the idea.
do you know anything about electronics?
 
Back