VW E-Up during charging
The pilot project will initially use 28 battery systems and 38 cell modules from the E-Up small car.
(Photo: Reuters)
VW discovers a new way of using used e-car batteries and enters the electricity trade. Business on the German market of the Epex Spot power exchange began in Berlin on Wednesday.
In the new “PowerCenter” in Kassel, discarded batteries from electric vehicles are to be used to temporarily store electricity for stock exchange trading, announced the VW charging network division Elli.
The pilot project will initially use 28 battery systems and 38 cell modules from the E-Up small car. When electricity prices are low and a lot of wind and solar energy is available, they should temporarily store electricity from the grid.
When prices are high and supply is scarce, they should feed the electricity back into the grid. According to Epex, VW is the first automotive group to enter electricity trading in Germany. The new business area is part of the strategy with which VW is looking for possible uses for decommissioned electric car batteries before they are to be recycled in the third step.
At the same time, they want to “develop new, high-revenue business models” and help stabilize the power grid, said Elli boss Giovanni Palazzo according to the announcement. Temporary storage for renewable energies is considered an important prerequisite for the energy transition.
Other car manufacturers are also using old batteries as stationary power storage. In 2017, BMW put a so-called storage farm with up to 700 BMW i3 batteries into operation in Leipzig to temporarily store the energy from four factory wind turbines. Since the end of 2021, Audi has been using lithium-ion batteries from test vehicles in its “Charging Hub” rapid charging stations.
More: Why it is so difficult for BMW and Mercedes managers in the group