Jaguar Land Rover repurposes car batteries for grid power storage

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【Summary】Jaguar Land Rover plans to reuse old car batteries to store excess energy from the national grid and release it during peak times. The company aims to create one of the largest energy storage systems in the UK, with enough batteries to power 750 homes for a day. Electric car batteries can be reused due to their high standards, even when they no longer meet the requirements of an electric vehicle.

FutureCar Staff Aug 23, 2023 9:17 AM PT

Jaguar Land Rover repurposes car batteries for grid power storage

The UK's largest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), has revealed its plans to repurpose old car batteries for energy storage. This initiative aims to create one of the largest energy storage systems in the country. The batteries will be used to store excess power during off-peak times when there is an imbalance between electricity supply and demand. When needed, the stored energy can be released and fed back into the grid.

By the end of this year, JLR aims to supply enough batteries to power 750 homes for a day, which is equivalent to 7.5 megawatt hours of energy. These batteries can be reused due to their high standards and residual capacity of 70% to 80% even after falling below the stringent requirements of electric vehicles.

The batteries will be stored in containers located at the Chelveston renewable energy park in Northamptonshire. JLR also plans to expand the program by creating more containers to accommodate additional used batteries in the future. It is expected that the supply of used batteries for energy storage could exceed 200 gigawatt-hours per year by 2030, with a global value of over $30 billion.

Energy storage is crucial for addressing the issue of renewable electricity being generated but not being used due to grid constraints. Wind farms, for example, may need to power down during windy periods when there is no demand or when the grid cannot handle the excess energy. Repurposing used car batteries for energy storage provides a solution to this problem.

This announcement highlights that electric vehicle batteries have a longer lifespan than the vehicles themselves. Even when they are no longer suitable for cars, they can still be utilized in other applications. Colin Walker, the head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, emphasized that most of the metals in EV batteries can be recycled, while petrol cars irretrievably burn significant amounts of fuel throughout their lifespan.