Nissan and Hitachi look to charge elevators with EV batteries

[admin]

Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd and a Hitachi Ltd subsidiary said on Friday they plan to roll out a system to keep elevators running during blackouts by drawing power from the batteries of electric vehicles (EVs). Few cars today are capable of bi-directional charging, where vehicles can become a power source for homes, or feed energy back into the grid, though carmakers such as Ford Motor Co and Renault SA are among those jumping on the bandwagon. In what appears to be an early attempt in earthquake-prone Japan to make wider use of EV batteries, Nissan and Hitachi Building Systems Co Ltd are focused on keeping elevators running when the power supply is disrupted.