Audi has commissioned an energy storage facility to use used lithium-ion batteries in its electric cars for their second life. The project, realized in collaboration with the RWE Generations company, marks a new era in the energy revolution.
Built at RWE's pumped-storage power plant located in Lake Henstey, the storage facility will be able to temporarily store approximately 60 megawatt-hours of electricity, thanks to the system consisting of 4,5 batteries.
Audi uses the second life of out-of-service batteries in its vehicles used in the development phase of the e-tron model, in an energy storage facility. In the project carried out in cooperation with Audi and RWE Generations, batteries with a residual capacity of more than 80 percent are still used after their first lifetime.
These second lifetimes of the batteries are ideal for use in stationary power storage systems. Depending on what form and purpose they are used for, these batteries can have a second period of use of up to ten years. It is extremely important to evaluate the second life of the batteries in terms of both cost and eliminating the carbon emissions that occur during the production of new batteries. Audi thus, its batteries; It provides a sustainable development by evaluating its two lifetimes, one in the car and the other in electricity storage.
In the project, RWE built 700 square meters at the power plant site in Herdecke for 60 battery modules weighing around 160 kilograms. The assembly of the battery systems in the area was completed in October. Individual components were also commissioned in November. RWE will use stored second-life batteries primarily to supplement the power grid as part of periodic maintenance. The company will also implement pilot projects for different areas of use in the future.
Audi AG Board Member Hoffmann: Our aspirations are beyond the automobile
Saying that carbon-free mobility is Audi's ultimate goal and that they are working hard to achieve this ambitious goal, Audi AG Board Member for Technical Development Oliver Hoffmann said: “Our plan to bring more than 2025 all-electric models to the market by 20 is an important step in this direction. But our desires go far beyond the automobile. That's why we advance the development of sustainable mobility by collaborating with partners from the energy industry. Our cooperation with RWE is one of them. Our aim is to ensure the resource-friendly use of high-voltage batteries in their second life and to reveal the possibilities for their integration into the electricity grids of the future. In addition to this, we are also thinking about the second phase of use and we are speeding up our work to ensure that these batteries are recycled effectively”.
RWE CEO Miesen: New battery a sustainable alternative
RWE Generation SE CEO Roger Miesen said that the storage of powerful batteries plays an extremely important role in the energy revolution. “Flexible storage technologies are needed to compensate for short-term fluctuations in renewable energy and stabilize the grid. Battery storage systems are ideal for this purpose. At Herdecke together with Audi, we use end-of-life high-voltage batteries for electric cars. We test how it behaves like stationary energy storage devices when connected to each other. The continued use of this type of 'second life' storage is a sustainable alternative to new batteries. The experience we gained from this project will help us identify the applications where we can use such battery systems most efficiently.” provided information.
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