To maximize the opportunities of new technologies, companies from across
different sectors are increasingly pooling their efforts and working with fast-moving start-ups, joining forces to develop innovative, high-value products and services.
Faced with the rise of the electric vehicle (EV), giant Italian energy company Enel and Japanese carmaker Nissan have partnered with Nuvve, a start-up based in San Diego, to develop a new business model based on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology. The technology aggregates the output of the batteries of large groups of parked EVs, transforming the vehicles into a virtual power plant that provides balancing services, feeding stored electricity back into the grid.
“Using start-ups is a very effective and quick way to outsource innovation and tap into new businesses.” Luciano Tommasi, Head of Start-up Activities and Business Incubator, Enel
It is a potentially market-changing invention that could revolutionize the relationship between vehicle owners and electricity suppliers forever.
Because V2G is a new market—neither car manufacturers nor energy companies have internally developed proper solutions to manage it—and start-ups lack the resources to test their inventions at scale in the real world, Enel, Nissan and Nuvve decided to work in partnership to bring V2G to market.
“It is crucial for us to have access to the capabilities of start-ups to innovate and disrupt,” says Luciano Tommasi, head of start-up activities and business incubator at Enel. As a big corporation, we have bureaucracy and processes. But by working with start-ups, we can test and launch new products more quickly.
Whereas Enel and Nissan had already tested V2G technology, the two multinationals had no software platform for controlling the power flow to and from the cars. “We were the missing piece of the puzzle,” says Nuvve founder, chairman and CEO Gregory Poilasne.
As a result of their ground-breaking partnership, in August last year the three companies were able to debut in Denmark the world’s first fully commercial V2G hub.
When 10 electric e-NV200 vans from Nissan are not in use, they can be plugged in to the Enel V2G units and either receive energy from or provide energy back to the national grid on demand, turning the vans into mobile energy solutions and powerful ambassadors for the low carbon society
