Volkswagen this month commissioned a pilot battery energy storage system with reused modules from the pre-production Volkswagen ID.3 and Volkswagen ID.4 vehicles.

The power storage container (PSC) was installed at the Zwickau plant in Germany, which is involved in the production of a total of six MEB-based electric cars.

The PCS is equipped with 96 reused MEB cell modules and offers a total of 570 kWh net capacity (approx. 5.94 kWh per module on average).

The main goal of the Pilot Battery Second Life project is to develop a sustainable solution for older batteries with some loss of capacity, which can still be used as energy storage for some time before going to recycling.

The PCS in Zwickau supports the local rapid charging station with four 150 kW chargers, reduces overvoltages and enables better use of the adjacent photovoltaic system.

Volkswagen points out that the electricity storage containers could play a crucial role in promoting the deployment of fast charging infrastructure in residential areas or more generally in places with limited power (like 11kW or 22kW).

“The advantage is that fast-charging infrastructure can be set up almost anywhere, even in places with weak grid connections.”

“As a large battery storage system, the PSC offers a cost-effective alternative to a substation. It enables the provision of large amounts of energy in a short time without overloading the power grid. Another advantage is that energy can be stored temporarily to avoid high basic costs that would otherwise be incurred in standby mode, even if no vehicles are charging.”

Many other manufacturers have also developed various Second Life applications for batteries in the past.

We expect that this type of energy storage system will quickly gain popularity as there will be an increasing number of battery modules and packs with partially reduced capacity (60-70% of the initial value).

There is no point in recycling the batteries early if they can be reused for some time (let’s say 10 years or more) and contribute to the expansion of charging infrastructure or in other applications.