In the outskirts of the small Southern California town of New Cuyama, a 20-acre parcel hosts a 1.5-megawatt solar farm, harnessing the sun’s energy to charge around 600 batteries stored in nearby cabinets. During nighttime, when energy demand peaks, the stored electricity is dispatched to the grid, providing homes with clean energy.
To ensure the availability of renewable energy from sources like solar and wind when required, the use of batteries for storing generated power is increasingly prevalent. However, what sets the Cuyama facility, now operational, apart is its unique feature: the batteries supplying energy to the grid were originally used to power electric vehicles.
The SEPV Cuyama facility, situated approximately two hours northeast of Santa Barbara, marks the second hybrid storage facility introduced by B2U Storage Solutions. Their inaugural facility, located just outside Los Angeles, repurposes 1,300 retired batteries from Honda Clarity and Nissan Leaf EVs to store 28 megawatt-hours of power, sufficient to energize approximately 9,500 homes.
These facilities aim to demonstrate the viability of repurposing EV batteries for stationary storage before recycling, potentially enhancing the sustainability of the technology’s supply chain. This approach could mitigate the necessity for mining critical minerals, offering a more cost-effective means of expanding grid-scale storage.
“This is what’s needed at massive scale,” said Freeman Hall, CEO of the Los Angeles-based large-scale storage system company.
EV batteries are typically replaced at 70 to 80 percent capacity due to declining range. The critical materials, like lithium and nickel, are largely reusable. A growing recycling industry, aided by Energy Department loans and Inflation Reduction Act incentives, is gearing up for the influx of retired EV battery packs.
Studies indicate that roughly three-quarters of decommissioned packs are viable for a second life as stationary storage, contributing to sustainability efforts. However, factors like damage or limited remaining life may exclude some batteries from this repurposing initiative.
“We were seeing the first generation of EVs end their time on the road, and 70 percent or more of those batteries have very strong residual value,” said Hall. “That should be utilized before all those batteries are recycled, and we’re just deferring recycling by three, four, or five years.”
Prolonging the lifespan of EV batteries helps alleviate the environmental impact associated with their manufacturing, according to Maria Chavez, an energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The utilization of utility-scale battery storage is anticipated to surge, escalating from 1.5 gigawatts of capacity in 2020 to an estimated 30 gigawatts by 2025. Electric vehicle (EV) packs stand poised to serve as a reservoir for this expansion. B2U Storage Solutions asserts that approximately 3 gigawatt-hours of retired EV packs are currently available in the United States, ready for deployment, with the removal rate doubling every two years.
Mark Hall, CEO of B2U Storage Solutions, expressed, “We’re going from a trickle when we started four years ago to a flood of batteries that are coming.” B2U’s technology facilitates the repurposing of batteries in an almost “plug and play fashion,” eliminating the need for disassembly. The system accommodates units from various manufacturers, including Honda, Nissan, Tesla, GM, and Ford, allowing for seamless integration.
B2U asserts that its technology streamlines the repurposing of batteries in an almost “plug and play fashion.” This approach eliminates the need for disassembly, allowing units from various manufacturers – including Honda, Nissan, Tesla, GM, and Ford – to seamlessly integrate into a single system.
These battery packs are securely stored in large cabinets and managed by proprietary software. The software monitors safety aspects and optimally discharges and charges each battery based on its remaining capacity. The batteries undergo charging during the day from both solar panels and the grid. Subsequently, B2U sells the accumulated power to utilities during the night, capitalizing on higher demand and prices.
Mark Hall, CEO of B2U Storage Solutions, highlighted that utilizing second-life batteries yields the same financial return as new grid-scale batteries but at half the initial cost. He emphasized that, at present, repurposing these packs proves more financially advantageous for automakers than direct recycling, which is still relatively expensive. Selling or leasing retired packs to a grid storage company allows manufacturers to extract additional value from them until the recycling industry matures.
This could potentially contribute to reducing the cost of electric vehicles, noted Mark Hall, CEO of B2U Storage Solutions. He emphasized, “The actual cost of leasing a battery on wheels should go down if the full value of the battery is enhanced and reused.” According to him, everyone benefits when smart reuse practices are implemented.
B2U anticipates integrating storage into a third solar facility near Palmdale in the coming year. These facilities serve as demonstrations of the concept’s viability, paving the way for B2U to offer its hardware and software to other storage project developers.
While the planned deployment of the technology is currently limited, with an estimated 6 percent of decommissioned EV batteries in the U.S. used for grid-scale storage by 2027, Hall expressed confidence in the scalability of their approach. He acknowledged skepticism but highlighted a robust data set proving reliability, performance, and profitability, emphasizing that they are now at a stage where scaling the process is feasible.
