New Nissan tech could half the cost of charging

As the electricity price cap has increased recently, so too has the cost to charge an electric car – but new technology from Nissan aims to cut costs for the owners of its cars.

From 2026, a number of Nissan’s electric models will feature affordable bi-directional charging technology, which the car maker claims could half the cost of charging an electric car. By 2030, it will be available on all of the Japanese brand's electric cars. It is likely the next generation of Nissan Juke, Leaf and Qashqai will be among the first to use the tech; engineers have so far developed the system using an Ariya.

The vehicle-to-grid (V2G) feature allows EV owners to charge their car at cheaper off-peak rates, and provides the option of powering their homes during periods of high energy demand – or even sell the power back to the grid.

As a result, EV owners could reduce the cost of charging their car by as much as 50%, and cut CO2 emissions from charging by 30% a year.

That’s because encouraging the use of charging at off-peak times – even if the car isn’t being used for driving – means energy produced from renewable sources isn’t wasted. The power can then be drawn down to supplement energy generated from those sources later, especially during periods of high demand.

Key to reducing the cost of the technology is the use of a new on-board charger within the cars. Currently, EVs use an inverter to convert the AC power from a mains supply to DC in order to charge the battery. Cars with V2G technology, which include the Cupra Born and Kia EV9, convert DC back into AC.

Currently, this requires an expensive wallbox to be fitted, but Nissan’s inverter is able to convert from AC to DC and back again. It means that even though the system will require a bi-directional wallbox from Belgian firm Enovates, the cost should be in line with many mono-directional chargers currently on the market. The wallboxes will be sold through Nissan dealerships, and could be included in a new-car finance package.

Nissan has partnered with electricity provider EDF, which will develop an EV tariff that will incentivise drivers to keep their cars plugged in and sell their energy back to the grid when needed. However, it’s likely that drivers will be able to use other electricity providers when the scheme rolls out, and all functions will be controlled via a dedicated smartphone app, regardless of who supplies the energy.

Under the banner of Nissan Energy, the firm will initially launch the technology in the UK, before rolling it out in other European countries. It follows around 40 pilot projects from Nissan deployed around the world over the last decade.

Following a year-long project at the University of Nottingham, Nissan is the first car maker to gain the G99 Grid code certification required to supply energy from its vehicles into the UK’s national energy supply.

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