Nissan Brazil Commits to Researching Alternative EV Battery Use

Nissan Brazil and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) will study and test second-life applications for electric vehicle batteries, the groups have announced.

The two groups signed a memorandum of intent, with Nissan agreeing to provide UFSC with six Nissan Leaf batteries. The batteries were initially used from 2012 to 2016 in taxis in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The batteries will be used to test alternative uses for EV batteries, such as collecting and generating electrical power for use in households. Another line of research is testing the batteries to store solar power for nighttime use, when energy is most expensive.

Nissan Leaf batteries have previously been used for alternative applications such as powering the Johan Cruyff Arena in Holland and light posts in Japan.