Is this the most stupid automotive idea ever?

avantra

Nissan Leaf ‘can power your home'

What were they thinking? charge the Leaf at night on Economy 7 and power your home during the day.

But.. I am at work during the day or maybe using the car to pop to the shops. What a pointless exercise. :eek:

Strider590

With the inherent losses during the charge cycle and the inherent losses of inverting stored DC into 240v AC, you'd be better off using the mains... Surely?

[Deleted User]

Just get some UPS batteries and charge up at night. *rolleyes*

bap98189

Might be handy if thew power goes off for a day or so. Japan has had a few problems in that area recently.

marlot

It might actually make sense for the country, though possibly not for the consumer.

Many power stations (eg. nuclear) are hard to turn up or down. So they produce a relatively fixed amount of electricity. As we have more wind turbines and solar, we will have additional energy available, but typically produced at the wrong time of day.

There are a number of hyro-electric stores in the country (mainly scotland, where its hillier). When there is an electricity surplus the water to pumped to the reservoir at the top. When we need more, the water come down through a turbine to make electricity.

A number of small storage devices around the country could be beneficial - but we'd need a way for the grid to turn them on and off when needed.