Nissan: Free Parking At Cool Pavilion For Your Electricity. Mmmkay, Thanks.

Cars

Published on July 31st, 2020 |
by Zachary Shahan

July 31st, 2020 by Zachary Shahan 

Nissan has rolled out a unique opportunity for electric LEAF drivers in Japan. The company has set up an innovation showcase near its headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, and LEAF drivers can park for free — inside the showcase — if they are fine contributing some of their battery’s electricity to help power … the showcase.

The place is called the Pavilion and opens to the public tomorrow, August 1. (Actually, I guess it’s already tomorrow in Japan.) It’s an exposition for clean, cutting-edge (or at least modern) technology Nissan offers in certain places or is a spin on things Nissan offers or may offer in the future.

“The Pavilion is a place where customers can see, feel, and be inspired by our near-future vision for society and mobility,” said Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida. “As the world shifts to electric mobility, EVs will be integrated into society in ways that go beyond just transportation.”

It is actually where the Nissan Ariya was recently unveiled. The technology that allows Nissan LEAFs to send electricity elsewhere for use powering a building or other devices is called “Nissan Energy Share” technology by Nissan. It has seen practical application in the real world already too. Nissan has agreements with some local governments to have its electric cars provide energy in the event of natural disasters. Furthermore, used Nissan LEAF batteries are powering streetlights in some parts of Japan.

“The payment system is just one of the many innovations customers can experience at the Pavilion, built to show how Nissan moves people to a better world. Visitors can eat at the Nissan Chaya Cafe, operating on power supplied by Nissan LEAF electric cars and solar energy. They can also enjoy virtual experiences that allow them to feel the thrill of Formula E electric street racing or go for a ride in the all-new Nissan Ariya EV crossover.”

Aside from pure cleantech demonstrations, Nissan is showing off its semi-autonomous ProPilot tech (similar to Tesla Autopilot) and “Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology, which combines information from the real and virtual worlds to assist drivers.”

There’s also an especially cool opportunity for tennis fans. You can play a virtual tennis match again Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka! My little girls would love that (and I might love it even more). I’m curious how that actually works, and if I could win one point against her (extremely unlikely). …

Plus, there’s electric carsharing and there are rental bikes.

The Pavilion is open from August 1 to October 23. Or you can visit it virtually. Have fun!

All images courtesy Nissan

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Tags: Nissan, Nissan Ariya, Nissan Leaf, Nissan Pavilian, Nissan ProPilot, Nissan ProPilot Assist, Nissan V2G

About the Author

Zachary Shahan is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.

Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA] — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in this company and feels like it is a good cleantech company to invest in. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort on Tesla or any other company.