The newly announced Nissan Energy plan will better enable owners of plug-in electrified Nissan vehicles to feed power back to the grid or to charge homes and businesses with surplus energy, Nissan's top North American executive announced at an event ahead of the LA Auto Show.

Nissan is also exploring new ways to reuse EV batteries after they have served drivers, said Denis Le Vot, chairman of Nissan North America at the automaker's Nissan Futures LA event on Nov. 27. The half-day event, which was moderated by Bloomberg TV reporter Emily Chang, also included panel discussions about transportation and mobility trends shaping the industry. Academy Award-winning actress Margot Robbie also made an appearance to discuss her use of a Nissan LEAF and make a case for why others should drive electric.

Nissan has begun a pilot program at its Franklin, Tenn., headquarters to use energy stored in LEAF cars to help power buildings during peak-load times, which is expected to reduce costly demand charges as part of the global Nissan Energy initiative. Fermata Energy will provide chargers and the software system for the project.

Other initiatives will take place in Hagen, Germany, and Japan.

LEAF vehicles in Hagen will be used as a reserve for the German electricity grid, in a pilot project that also includes technology company The Mobility House, energy supplier ENERVIE and transmission system operator Amprion.

In Japan, Nissan is working with electric and telecom companies to conduct field tests of vehicle-to-grid and virtual power plant systems to confirm and promote opportunities for electric vehicles to assist with managing energy.

Nissan is showing a refreshed 2019 Maxima at the LA Auto Show on Nov. 28.