Intelligent Mobility
Fuel Station of the Future by Foster + Partners and Nissan at International Motor Show, Geneva

Intelligent Mobility

Geneva – Architects Foster + Partners and Nissan have created a vision of the future in which vehicles act as portable energy sources.

Fuel Station of the Future by Foster + Partners and Nissan Europe at International Motor Show, Geneva

Geneva – Nissan presented a vision of a not-too-distant future in which vehicles act as portable energy sources.

  • The Japanese car-maker worked with architects Foster + Partners to imagine the future of Intelligent Mobility
  • Electric power trains in its vehicles could be used to store, use or return energy to the grid

In a short film presented at the International Motor Show in Geneva this week, the two companies showed how electric vehicles could work more efficiently with urban power grids.

Their vision of the future imagines how residential parking bays could wirelessly charge electric vehicles while their owners sleep, then connect to the home’s energy grid to power lighting and domestic appliances.

The Japanese car-maker is already trialling a vehicle-to-grid system in Europe, which could enable vehicles to operate as individual energy hubs that are able to store, use or return clean energy to the grid.

‘Integrating zero-emission technologies into the built environment is vital in creating smarter, more sustainable cities,’ says David Nelson, co-head of design at Foster + Partners.

The Big Picture

In the context of a system-level crisis, architects are fundamentally rethinking the relationship between energy and the built environment to create holistic systems. Read our Whole-system Thinking macrotrend for more.

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