This Southern California solar farm is using retired EV batteries for storing the power and then send to the grid when needed. This way the retired batteries can extend their usefulness for several…::A Southern California company is showing how repurposing EV batteries for stationary storage can extend their usefulness for several years.
So like… do electric car owners just need to buy new batteries? That’s the most expensive part!
Sometimes, but not often. These are mostly 1st gen EV batteries, so they’re pretty old. It’s mentioned in the article that once capacity diminishes to the point of effecting range the old battery is replaced. Old units can be refurbished. These units could also be situations where the car surrounding the battery failed (accident, hail damage, etc) and they decided to scrap it and reclaim the battery.
At one time, they didn’t last more than a few years, and needed expensive replacement. Newer batteries have better BMS controllers on them and last a lot longer. But any damage pretty much necessitates replacement. The batteries can probably be fixed but IDK if they can be put back into use in vehicles then. So there’s plenty of used batteries that can be upgraded to use for stationary storage. You can buy them all day long on certain websites or auctions. It’s a pretty popular thing for DIY solar.
Sure… at roughly the same rate and/or lifespan as someone with a combustion powered car might need to rebuild their engine or transmission. It’s really not that big of a deal, and newer battery chemistries like the current LiFePO packs are continually getting longer and longer lived. BEV battery packs are already expected to last 10 to 20 years.
Engine swap is a few thousand. New battery full swap is close to 20k on a smaller car. Not quite the same.
Think of it like phone batteries, you dont, but overtime, the wear level of the battery is lower than new, and if that range is less than what you need to dailu drive, then people will get their battery swapped.
Its one of the reasons why car companies were hesitent to make lithium ion batteries for EVs
This should make it less expensive if EV owners can sell their old batteries to be turned into a grid battery.
The article mentions that they mostly use batteries from the Nissan Leaf and Honda Clarity. I’m not sure about the latter, but the Nissan Leaf does not have any kind of battery management system. That keeps the battery warm in winter and cool in summer, and helps it last a lot longer. Nearly every major EV on the market does this, but the Leaf is the big exception. It’s also the one car where you’ll see severe range degradation on an older model.