Nissan Shows Off Raised, Rugged RE-LEAF Emergency Response Vehicle Concept

This LEAF will bring you response, recovery and resilience following natural disasters or extreme weather events.

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Sep 29, 2020 at 8:28am ET

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Nissan has unveiled today a new EV concept, the Nissan RE-LEAF, envisioned as an emergency response vehicle, which can act as a mobile battery supply to power recovery operations.

The name comes after three ‘REs’ of disaster preparedness: "providing an emergency response, aiding the humanitarian recovery and improving community resilience for the future".

The car is based on the 62 kWh LEAF e+, but as you can see, with multiple modifications, including removed rear seats, levelled floor to provide storage for essential equipment and a custom bulk-head cage to separate the front seats from the cargo area.

The car has a raised ride height by 70mm to 225mm with a custom ‘sump guard’ to protect the car’s floor pan. The list include also wider tracks (+90mm front / +130mm rear), custom wheel arches, mud flaps and all-terrain tyres on 17-inch motorsport wheels. There is even a roof-mounted LED light bar.

The most important feature is of course the power-export feature, which allows it to power external devices for quite some time - where it is needed and when it is needed. A great solution to provide power following natural disasters or extreme weather events.

Interestingly, besides the ordinary charging inlets and an internal domestic socket mounted in the boot, the RE-LEAF features two weatherproof plug sockets mounted directly to the exterior of the vehicle (110/230 V) - perfect to run medical, communications, lighting and other life-supporting equipment.

Some might think that 62 kWh is not enough for such applications (probably it would be better to have at least 100-200 kWh), especially since the vehicle has to reach the location first, but on the other hand, typically electricity supply is restored within 24-48 hours.

According to Nissan, the energy usage for various devices is not that high:

Electric Jack Hammer – 24 hours – 36 kWh
Pressure Ventilation Fan – 24 hours – 21.6 kWh
Intensive Care Medical Ventilator – 24 hours – 3 kWh
100 watt LED flood light – 24 hours – 2.4 kWh

Of course, the RE-LEAF with CHAdeMO charging system is also ready for bidirectional charging - V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid), V2X (Vehicle-to-everything).

With a bespoke pull-out desk that extends from the boot with a 32-inch LED screen and dedicated power supply, the RE-LEAF could become also a command vehicle - "an operational hub to run communications from and manage the recovery process".

What do you think?

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The modifications of the LEAF to RE-LEAF were carried out by RJN, a UK-based engineering and motorsports firm, with project management by GTA Global Ltd.

RE-LEAF Technical Specifications