Reusing EV Batteries to Store Renewable Energy

Five years ago, a clean energy startup company in California named B2U Storage Solutions proposed an innovative use for old electric vehicle batteries: repurposing them for a battery storage facility that could help power the electric grid. 

Last year, a startup called Element Energy adopted the idea and built a 53 MWh second-life grid battery project in West Texas. Their storage plant operates on used EV battery modules in various states of health, using software to get the most use out of each battery without over-stressing individual units.

A year later, Redwood Materials built 63 MWh of second-life grid storage in the desert outside Reno, Nevada. The company started in 2017 to recycle battery materials and now views energy storage as an increasingly viable growth area.

Today, B2U is back and ready to break ground on a new utility-scale battery storage plant in Texas. They plan to complete four projects totaling 100 MWh over the next year.  

Other companies will likely follow suit. 

A New Option for Clean Energy Production

B2U was able to show that “repurposed” batteries from electric vehicles could provide long-term reliable and safe energy over many recharges and discharges. They also do so at lower cost than removing and recycling the lithium from similar batteries. This also provides a market for at least one extra life for those batteries before their content enters the waste stream wherein some contents are recycled but others head toward the landfill. 

A successful new option for clean energy production is welcome news, especially one which boosts the affordability of large-scale battery storage facilities. These storage plants are an essential tool for complementing clean and affordable but intermittent solar and wind energy sources.