Nissan joins BMW, Ford, and Honda in ChargeScape vehicle-to-grid charging joint venture
One month after OEMs BMW, Ford, and Honda announced a new joint venture focused on electric vehicle-to-grid integration called ChargeScape, Nissan has now joined. The Japanese automaker will take a stake in the joint venture and begin offering its charging solutions to customers.
ChargeScape is a new joint venture initially formed, owned, and operated by Ford, BMW, and Honda. The venture is focused on a software platform dedicated to home EV charging solutions, specifically vehicle-to-grid capabilities. Per the company:
ChargeScape’s software wirelessly connects to electric vehicles and manages the flow of electrons in line with real-time grid conditions, temporarily reducing demand when the grid is constrained through smart charging (V1G) and even leveraging sending energy back into the power grid when needed (V2G). By providing a single platform for power utilities, automakers and their customers, ChargeScape streamlines the complexity of electric vehicle-grid integration.
Now, less than a month after the initial announcement that ChargeScape had been founded and named its first CEO, Nissan has joined the joint venture as a fourth partner.
Nissan takes a 25% stake in ChargeScape joint venture
The Japanese automaker shared details of its new investment in ChargeScape today, which, when completed, will make it a 25% even partner in the charging joint venture alongside BMW, Ford, and Honda.
Once the transaction is completed, Nissan will begin rolling out ChargeScape’s services to its EV drivers across the US and Canada. Soon, Nissan will be able to offer its EV drivers the potential for energy savings using ChargeScape’s backend software.
For example, EV owners will be able to temporarily pause charging sessions during periods of high demand and pending regulatory approvals, eventually be able to sell their vehicle’s stored energy back to their local power grid for incentives. Kent O’Hara, president of Nissan’s 4R battery business, elaborated:
ChargeScape helps us more conveniently and effectively connect utilities to EV drivers, making the ownership experience more valuable for drivers by giving them incentives for participating in managed charging and vehicle-to-grid programs. Joining ChargeScape helps us contribute to a nationwide reduction in CO2 emissions by enabling utilities to use EV battery energy storage to balance peak grid demands, while optimizing the use of renewable electricity sources.”
Nissan shared that ChargeScape’s potential to unlock vehicle-to-grid services for many will also help grid operators avoid the reliance on expensive and polluting “peaker plants” when the grid becomes overloaded.
The young joint venture is already developing and erecting “virtual power plants” in California, Texas, and other markets. Per the press release, the four initial joint venture partners expect additional automakers beyond Nissan to join “in the coming months.”
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In a move that helps the brand duck protectionist anti-Chinese tariffs, Volvo Cars has switched production of its award-winning EX30 models destined for US roads from its Zhangjiakou plant in China to the Ghent facility in Belgium.
Volvo EX30 production began in the company’s Ghent factory back in April, but those first cars were earmarked for the Swedish domestic and European export markets, but that move wasn’t primarily motivated by avoiding tariffs. As Electrive reports, the company seemed happy enough to continue importing its small electric crossover from China and accepting the new 28.8% tariffs (up from 10%), but the wait times to get the vehicles shipped in from China was imply too long.
In 2024, Swedish and German buyers had to wait up to eight months for their EX30 in some cases, according to Volvo Cars’ European boss, Arek Nowinski, per Automotive News. Once production in Ghent is fully up to speed, however, wait times should be cut to about 90 days. Those wait times, and the price hike associated with the tariffs, have hurt sales of the originally Chinese-made Volvo EV. In 2024, for example, the EX30 ranked third in European EV sales, but slipped out of the top 10 first half of 2025.
“The car is now being built in Europe, which means faster delivery times,” Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson to Automotive News. “We should return to the sales and market share figures for the EX30 that we had before the introduction of tariffs.”
Coming to Staying in America
The EX30’s switch to Ghent is good news for American fans of the compact, lickety-quick Volvo EV. Now that it’s no longer exclusively made in China, Volvo has decided to give it a stay of execution as it revamps its US product lineup to better align with market trends (read: SUVs) and the changing political landscape (read: tariffs and inflation).
The reason? The Made in China version of the EX30 would virtually unsellable in the US due to the implementation of 147% tariffs on vehicles imported from China. Vehicles imported from Europe, meanwhile, carry just 15% tariffs, keeping the EX30 in a competitive price bracket.
Expect to see both Ghent and South Carolina play an increasingly large role in Volvo’s US product mix – at least for the next three-odd years.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Cars, Automotive News, via Electrive.
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New filings have revealed that BYD is about to release a ridiculous 3,000 hp electric supercar: the Yangwang U9 Track Edition.
BYD already shocked the world when it launched the Yangwang U9, its first all-electric supercar.
It featured four advanced electric motors with a combined power of nearly 1,300 horsepower. The U9 can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in just 2.36 seconds.
With a motor at each wheel and a highly advanced electric-air suspension, the U9 can turn on itself and even jump over potholes.
But that was only the beginning.
Based on a new filing with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), BYD is preparing to launch a new ‘Track Edition’ of the Yangwang U9:
When an automaker releases a “track” version of a car, it typically primarily features body changes for better aerodynamic performance, adding downforce, and it will also often feature bigger brakes.
The Yangwang U9 ‘Track Edition’ appears to feature all that… and much more.
The filing reveals that BYD updated the motors at each wheel to a new 555 kW motor. That’s a higher-performing motor than in most performance electric vehicles. The U9 Track Edition has four of them for a total of 2,220 kW (3,019 hp).
I would have thought that this was a typo if it wasn’t for the insane electric vehicles coming out of China these days.
Here are a few pictures from the MIIT filing:
There are a lot of performance specs that are not included in the MIIT filing. Therefore, it will be interesting to see when the vehicle is fully unveiled and BYD reveals what kind of performance it can achieve with 3,000 hp packed in 4 electric motors.
Here are a few other features mentioned in the filing:
Standard features:
- 20-inch wheels with 325/35 R20 tyres
- Carbon-fibre roof
- Large fixed carbon-fibre rear wing
- Rear diffuser with adjustable blades for aerodynamic optimisation
Optional aerodynamic parts:
- Standard or enhanced carbon-fibre front splitter
- Electric rear wing
Electrek’s Take
How are they going to keep that thing from flying away? Seriously.
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