’Second use’ batteries that previously powered buses in France will be the core of a new battery storage site in Norfolk that will be paid to provide support services for the electricity grid operator.
The installation, expected to go live towards the end of the year, will be the first outcome of a new partnership agreement between Connected Energy and Forsee Power, to jointly design and develop a modular, scalable energy storage solution. It will combine Connected Energy’s ‘second life’ technology with Forsee Power’s ZEN 35 and ZEN 42 battery packs, which are deployed in about 1,500 electric buses in Europe.
Electric vehicle batteries in commercial applications will typically be replaced by the owner as their performance deteriorates, after they have passed thousands of times through discharge/charge cycles. However, even after up to a decade of use they may still have up to four-fifths of their orginal energy storage capacity. As a result, the batteries can be repurposed in energy storage systems – an option that will have commercial benefits for the original user; either by selling the batteries direct into the growing second life market, or by reducing life cycle costs in a model where the original maker retains ownership.
Connected Energy has previously installed second life battery arrays on fleet operator sites that can ‘buffer’ power supplies, so fleet operators can charge vehicles without the need to upgrade their electricity connection. The 2.5MWh stand-alone batteries will represent a step up in capacity from on-site buffer stores, which are typically around 300MWh, and the partners plan to follow the Norfolk installation with others in the UK and Europe.
“This agreement with Forsee Power represents a significant step forward in delivering a new second life economy for EV batteries,” said Matthew Lumsden, chief executive of Connected Energy. “The availability of second life batteries is increasing rapidly and the best way to realise the value in them is through partnerships that span the value chain.”
“We are glad to extend our partnership with Connected Energy initiated in 2021, to develop a grid-scale energy storage system utilising battery packs from electric buses that have completed their first life.” said Christophe Gurtner, Chairman & CEO of Forsee Power, which says that it has equipped more than 4200 buses worldwide with batteries so far, which will eventually come onto the second use market.
