According to Reuters, Nissan and a subsidiary from Hitachi recently showed interest in rolling out a system that would allow for elevators to run during power blackouts.

The two companies would rely on EV-grade batteries to make this feat possible.

Using the battery of a Nissan microcar, the two companies were able to keep a nine-people elevator running at low speeds for ten hours straight.

Last year we wrote about systems that were to store the energy of running lifts in batteries, so that buildings could run on more green power.

If more power-intensive elevator applications are necessary, such as larger-capacity escalators, bigger batteries can be used, such as those found on the Nissan Leaf.

Hitachi Building Systems hopes to be able to implement this system in residential buildings soon.