E-mobility – 2nd-use battery storage improves environmental performance

World's largest 2nd-use battery storage unit set to connect to the grid (Daimler AG)

Electric vehicles charged with renewable electricity are known to be a eco-friendly means of transportation. The rechargeable battery can be charged and discharged hundreds of times. But each time it is charged and emptied the capacity will decrease. So what happens with replaced batteries? Are they intended to get recycled?

Further use would improve the environmental performance as well as lifecycle costs. For that reason, a collaboration between automobile manufacturer Daimler, The Mobility House, REMONDIS and energy service provider GETEC completes the battery value creation cycle by reusing the electric vehicle batteries. Beginning of 2016 they aim to connect a battery storage with a total capacity of 13 MWh in the Westphalian town of Lünen. The storage is completely made of used batteries from electric cars. It will be the world’s largest 2nd-use battery storage unit and operated from the beginning of next year at the site of REMONDIS SE and marketed in the German electricity balancing sector. A further step to make e-mobility even more economically efficient.

A joint venture between Daimler AG, The Mobility House AG and GETEC, it will be A special feature of this venture is the use of second-life battery systems from electric vehicles. In Lünen, systems from the second generation of smart electric drive vehicles are being incorporated into a stationary storage unit with a total capacity of 13 MWh. The process demonstrably improves the environmental performance of electric vehicles, thereby helping to make e-mobility more economically efficient.

Under the banner of ‘E-Mobility thought to the end’, Daimler, The Mobility House, GETEC and REMONDIS are mapping out the entire battery value creation and recycling chain. From the manufacture and reprocessing of battery systems at the Daimler subsidiary ACCUMOTIVE, the corresponding range of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles from Daimler AG, and the installation and marketing of stationary battery storage units in the energy markets by The Mobility House and GETEC, through to recycling the battery systems at the end of their lifecycle and feeding the valuable raw materials back into the production cycle, which will be the future responsibility of REMONDIS.

For a successful transition to renewable energy powerful battery storages are a relevant component. With an increasing supply of electricity from fluctuating renewable energies, such as wind farms or solar power stations, they are the key for stable power grids. They can be used to level out energy fluctuations with virtually no loss. A role that is partly fulfilled by fossil power plants at present. This can help to speed up the energy revolution and eliminates the cost of expanding the grid and building new power plants.

With their 2nd-use battery storage project in Lünen, the four partners are proving that the lifecycle of a plug-in or electric vehicle battery does not end after its usage in car. The battery systems are still fully operational after their use in electric vehicles. The low levels of power loss are only of minor importance when used in stationary storage. Another ten years of efficient operation in a stationary application can be possible. This delay of the final phase of the value chain is the reason for the above mentioned improvement of the environmental performance and lifecycle costs.