If you’re in Japan and if you happen to be visiting the Nissan Pavilion exhibition space in Yokohama and you don’t have any coins for the parking meter — fear not.
Nissan is giving the drivers of its electric vehicles the opportunity to discharge their parking debt with — you guessed it — electricity.
In a global first, electric vehicle drivers will be able to discharge power from their car’s battery pack to pay for parking while visiting the Pavilion, which has just opened.
The payment system is just one of the many innovations customers can experience at the exhibition space, built to show how Nissan moves people to a better world.
Visitors can also eat at the Nissan Chaya Cafe, operating on power supplied by Nissan LEAF electric cars and solar energy.
And they can 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.
The 10,000-square-metre, zero-emission Pavilion is outfitted with solar panels and supplied with renewable hydroelectric power.
“The Pavilion is a place where customers can see, feel, and be inspired by our near-future vision for society and mobility,” Nissan CEO, Makoto Uchida, said.
“As the world shifts to electric mobility, EVs will be integrated into society in ways that go beyond just transportation.”
Nissan introduced the world’s first mass-market electric car, the zero-emission Nissan LEAF, in 2010.
Since then, the company has partnered with governments and businesses around the world to expand the use of EVs.
The company’s Nissan Energy Share technology and Nissan Energy Storage technologies allows electricity from EV batteries to be stored, shared and repurposed, for instance by powering homes or businesses – such as the off-grid cafe in the Nissan Pavilion.
In Japan, Nissan has also entered agreements with local governments to use LEAF cars as mobile batteries that can supply energy during natural disasters.
In another partnership, the company is re-purposing used EV batteries to power streetlights.
As part of the Nissan NEXT transformation plan, the company plans to expand its global lineup of EVs and electric motor-driven cars, including e-POWER.
Nissan aims to sell more than 1 million electrified vehicles a year by the end of fiscal 2023.
Guests at the Pavilion can also experience other innovations besides Nissan Energy Share technologies.
These include the ProPILOT advanced driver assistance system as well as Nissan’s Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology, which combines information from the real and virtual worlds to assist drivers.
By playing a virtual tennis match with Grand Slam champion and Nissan brand ambassador Naomi Osaka in the Pavilion theatre, children and adults can learn about I2V and get a feel for how the technology will make driving more convenient, comfortable and exciting when it’s installed in cars in the near future.
In front of the Pavilion, the Mobility Hub offers a variety of services, including EV car-sharing and rental bicycles.
Offered by Nissan and the local community, these services aim to provide increased freedom of mobility.
To take a virtual tour, visit https://www.thenissannext.com/en/virtual-tour.html.
