Nissan Motor has announced plans it will remarket
used lithium-ion batteries from its soon-to-launch Leaf electric
car to solar-power generators and other secondary customers. With
this announcement – the first of its kind – Nissan is looking to
bring down the high cost of owning a zero-emission vehicle.

At the end of the car’s normal driving life of
10 years, Nissan projects its 24 kW/h NEC batteries will still
retain 70 to 80 percent of their capacity.

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Even with that diminished performance, the
heavy-duty batteries could still prove valuable as energy-storage
units for household and even smaller-scale commercial power
generation.

Launching a joint venture with Sumitomo, a
Japanese trading and investment company, Nissan hopes that its
‘second-life’ battery business will allow it to gain high residual
values for the batteries, thus bringing the price down for
consumers.

Pauline Kee, a spokesperson at Nissan Motor,
said: “The intent is to keep the residual value of the battery at
the high end.

“This way, the consumer does not have to bear
the burden of the cost of the entire battery, which is still at a
rather high entry point at this point in time.”

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Kee adds that the car manufacturer is looking
primarily at two sales models.

The first is where Nissan will lease the
battery separately from the car. This model, which will be used in
most markets, allows Nissan to lower its initial leasing charges,
thanks to the prospect of generating strong residual values for the
power units.

Alternatively, in markets where the battery
must be sold along with the car, drivers could expect to eventually
recoup some of the cost in the second-hand market.

“Second-life batteries present an ideal
solution to the renewable-energy sector, allowing energy to be
stored for later use,” Kee explained.

Despite the initiative first being launched in
Japan and the US by late 2010, Kee confirmed that Nissan was also
actively exploring the European market.

Jason T Hesse