Although several automakers have demonstrated the secondary use of electric car battery packs, a California-based company is actually using Nissan Leaf battery packs for energy storage to make money.
According to a video from Canary Media (via Charged EV), B2U Storage Solutions has turned approximately 160 used Leaf battery packs into an energy storage array that supports a 1MW solar farm in Lancaster, California.
The company said it has been bidding regularly on the California power market for more than a year. In the video, B2U CEO Freeman Hall stated that the company sells energy at a price of US$200 per MWh and charges the battery at a cost of about US$25 per MWh. B2U also recently attracted investment from the Japanese conglomerate Marubeni.
According to the company, the battery array currently has a capacity of 4 MWh and can provide 2.75 MW of electricity. When energy prices are low (usually in the morning), these battery packs are charged from solar cells and can be discharged into the grid during peak energy demand periods when the price is high.
B2U Storage Solutions Energy storage array made of Nissan Leaf battery packs
The difference of the B2U array is that the entire battery pack can be reused without modification. They are simply placed in a small structure and equipped with the original enclosure. The company pointed out that this helps reduce costs.
Since the model first came out, Nissan has been talking about the secondary use of the Leaf battery pack. However, previous efforts have involved some degree of disassembly and merging of used modules into a new unit.
Nissan is also trying to market its own energy storage system, which is powered by the 12 modules of the Leaf electric car, rather than a brand new battery. However, these systems have never been available in the United States.
In the final stage: before recycling, fixed storage may be used for many years from packaging recovered from electric vehicles.
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