With the explosion of electric car use, the clamour to find second uses for the batteries means that we will see topics like this on a regular basis.
We have already seen BMW I3 batteries being used to store solar generated electricity in Germany. This in turn is used to charge the home owners car when they get home.
How does this come about?
Once an electric car battery falls below a useful range, engineers look for ways to re-use them in areas where it doesn’t matter so much if they are now 50% efficient. In fact, we don’t yet know if lithium ion batteries may stop degrading and stay at 50% for ever.
This week we saw the launch of the amazing Nissan X Opus folding camper. It uses batteries from Nissan Leafs to inflate beams in the roof which makes up part of the framework.
The Opus already exists but the addition of the pump and the battery make it a whole lot more like a caravan than before.
You can add in the ROAM system which can provide up to a kilowatt of power to charge or run your camping equipment.
It can also be charged by Solar or mains. Look out for other uses such as charging e-bikes.
