Using EV Car Batteries for Power Generation
General Motors and Zurich-based ABB on Tuesday unveiled what they called “the next stage in battery reuse”: repackaging five used Chevrolet Volt batteries into a modular unit that has a power generation capacity of 25 kW for two hours. The companies said the unit could extend the life of electric vehicle (EV) batteries while being used as community energy storage.
"In many cases, when an EV battery has reached the end of its life in an automotive application, only 30% or less of its life has been used,” said Pablo Valencia, GM senior manager of battery lifecycle management. “This leaves a tremendous amount of life that can be applied to other applications like powering a structure before the battery is recycled.”
The companies last year showed how a Chevrolet Volt battery pack could be used to store energy and feed it back to the grid. In the demonstration on Tuesday, the energy storage system was run in a “remote power back-up” mode where 100% of the power for the facility came from Volt batteries through ABB’s Energy Storage Inverter system. “A similar application could one day be used to power a group of homes or small commercial buildings during a power outage, allow for storage of power during inexpensive periods for use during expensive peak demand, or help make up for gaps in solar, wind or other renewable power generation,” the companies said in a joint release.
The companies said they plan to install the modular battery unit on the grid soon to complete the technical evaluation. “[T] his will tell us all what smart grid applications are possible, like back-up power, reducing energy cost, strengthening utilities’ distribution systems and storing surplus renewable energy,” said Allen Burchett, ABB’s senior vice president for Business Development in North America.
Research and development for the modular battery was conducted at ABB’s research center in Raleigh, N.C., and that company’s business unit in Lake Mary, Fla., is managing the proof-of-concept testing, market research, and product development.
Several battery makers are looking into technologies to harness stored electricity in EV batteries for similar benefits.
In May, for example, Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. unveiled a Nichicon-developed power transfer system that enables electricity stored in high-capacity lithium-ion batteries onboard a Nissan LEAF to be sent to an ordinary home by connecting the car to the home’s electricity distribution panel with a connector linked to the LEAF’s quick-charging port.
Sources: POWERnews, GM, ABB, Nissan
—Sonal Patel, Senior Writer (@POWERmagazine)