Volkswagen will follow the lead of sibling brand Audi, using EV batteries that are no longer suitable for use in the vehicle as energy storage for electric car fast-charging hubs.
The first pilot is already underway at its Zwickau plant in Saxony, having been commisioned on Thursday (Europe time). It involves 96 modules from pre-series ID.3 and ID.4 vehicles that have been assembled into a “mega power” bank. VW says it is fed with electricity from the site’s solar system and has a capacity of 570kWh.
Up to eight vehicles can be charged simultaneously at the fast-charging park with an output of 75 kilowatts. A total of three such stations are planned on the factory premises.
According to the company, in the future, fast charging stations could be set up comparatively inexpensively using such power storage systems, where the existing power grid has not been available so far.
“Reusing batteries is important for the future and it’s closely linked to the acceleration in the trend toward electric mobility,” Karen Kutzner, managing director for finance and controlling at Volkswagen Sachse said in a statement.
She says that by utilising secnd life batteries in the power storage container, Volkswagen Sachsen is “demonstrating a practical, cost-effective and useful case to enable cell modules at the end of their service lives to have a second life.”
“This automotive power bank could be used wherever the capacity of the grid connection is too low but there is demand for powerful charging infrastructure. Innovative ideas like this could provide renewed impetus for the critical buildup of fast-charging infrastructure,” she said.
Using second life batteries can also serve as a buffer when there is an increased demand for electricity to charge electric cars at certain times of the day.
The project follows the announcement of a similar project by Volkswagen subsidiary Elli, which in June launched a smart grid pilot to explore how electric vehicles can help to relieve pressure on the grid at peak times.
In that pilot, ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 owners become “rolling electricity storage units” for the grid operator, providing power to the grid from the vehicle’s battery to alleviate demand on the baseload.
The latest charging hub pilot is another example of how EV batteries can be used in a way such that electric cars become an integral part of smoothing out and supporting the grid, as well as charging from it.
“The continued use of batteries is an important topic for the future that is closely linked to the ramp-up of electromobility,” said Kutzner.
Other car manufacturers are also using batteries that have already been used up to store electricity. Last year, for example, Audi opened a charging hub in Nuremberg based on used lithium-ion batteries from dismantled test vehicles.
In 2018, Renault made plans to create a 60MWh storage system made from old Zoe, Twizy and Kangoo ZE batteries at three sites in France and Germany. Nissan has also commissioned a 3MWh system at the Amsterdam Arena that stores energy generated from the sports ground’s 4,000 solar panels.
BMW also built an energy storage farm in Leipzig in 2017. On the factory premises, up to 700 batteries from the i3 electric car are used a second time after they have been used in the cars.
The storage facility is fed with electricity from four of the company’s own wind turbines. It serves to supply the production with electricity, but is also connected to the public power grid.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.