A decade ago, the idea of a car powering a building was science fiction. No longer. Now it has become a vision of how cars (and many other appliances that are part of the Internet of Things) can create a new kind of power grid – a virtual power grid.

In Japan, Nissan is creating a new “EV ecosystem”, where cars store and share power with homes, businesses and the wider grid, not only during emergencies but every day.

And it has developed the Re-Leaf, a special kind of vehicle for mobile emergency power supply that can operate several devices at the same time, like an electric jackhammer or a compressed air blower for clean-up work, a 10-litre soup kettle, an intensive care ventilator, or a floodlight.