The Swiss energy group Alpiq and Mercedes-Benz Energy have concluded a supply agreement for the stationary use of batteries from electric vehicles. The storage unit has a capacity of 1.5 MW and a gross capacity of 1.4 MWh, which is also possible to scale up.

VW has distributed flexible rapid-charging points throughout the Wolfsburg city area, which EV drivers can use free of charge for 80 weeks. Some of the charging pillars are to be used flexibly at major events.

The University of Warwick has developed a procedure for Nissan that allows a quick assessment of the suitability of used electric car batteries for use in stationary energy storage. The classification works at the battery pack and battery module level.

At the depot of the Hamburg-Holstein transport authority (VHH) in Hamburg Bergedorf, a stationary 500 kWh storage facility – fitted with discarded batteries – has been connected to the depot’s charging network. The aim is to optimise the power supply at the depot.

Gotthard FASTcharge (GOFAST) recently opened one of Switzerland’s largest fast-charging parks at a service station, using eight Nissan Leaf batteries as a buffer. “Fake news” of a diesel generator being used circulated so stubbornly on social media, however, that GOFAST now took counteraction.

Volvo Buses aims to give its e-bus batteries a second life. In cooperation with Stena Property and Stena Recycling, the company will use its electric bus batteries as stationary energy storage in the Fyrklövern complex in Gothenburg.

As of today, visitors to the Johan Cruijff Arena (JCA) in Amsterdam can actively contribute to the power supply of the arena with their electric cars by integrating them into the stadium’s power grid. The first of 15 bidirectional charging stations in the JCA is now officially in operation.

The three-year strategic mobility partnership between Volkswagen and the City of Hamburg concluded in August 2016 has been extended. The most important news within the framework of the extension is that the WeShare car-sharing service will expand to Hamburg from spring next year.

In Paris, Renault electric car batteries have been given a second life on the Seine. They supply electricity to the ‘Black Swan’ electric motorboat, which is used for two-hour excursions in Paris for groups of up to eight people. And, the operator has bigger plans.

The bus maker Irizar and the charging infrastructure provider Ibil have concluded a cooperation agreement to give EV batteries a second life. Ibil will use spent batteries from Irizar’s electric buses as stationary energy storage.

The Volkswagen-Northvolt cooperation is taking off as they launch a first pilot production for battery cells at Volkswagen’s Salzgitter plant. Production is to scale up to 16 GWh at the end of 2023 with Volkswagen investing around €1Bn.

Researchers from Warwick University have succeeded in repurposing Jaguar I-Pace batteries as a small energy storage system. Each unit contains about 2 kWh energy capacity, and can power “a small shop, a farm, or multiple residential homes,” claims the team.

Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy and BAIC subsidiary Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV) have entered into a development partnership for Second Life battery storage systems in China. The partners intend to jointly build the first second-life energy storage system at their Beijing location.

Audi has opened a stationary energy storage facility with a capacity of 1.9 MWh on the EUREF campus in Berlin. The lithium-ion batteries in second use come from development e-tron vehicles and tests various interaction scenarios between electric cars and the energy grid.

London-based Moixa plans to develop a virtual power plant (VPP) that will combine solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles. The VPP could include hundreds of households, schools and other facilities in southern England and Moixa aims to eventually scale the network up to 17 MW.

Renault has launched the first large-scale bi-directional charging pilot projects in Europe, starting in Utrecht, the Netherlands and on the Portuguese island of Porto Santo. Similar projects will follow in five more European countries with the aim to develop services and gather learnings for future harmonisation.

The recently announced Volkswagen pilot plant for recycling electric car battery materials in Salzgitter, which will go into operation in 2020, is designed to initially produce 1,200 tonnes per year. The project in Salzgitter is to be followed by further recycling plants in the next few years.

A project in Gothenburg is using old Volvo bus batteries as a stationary energy storage with 200 kWh capacity. The pilot project is being run by the bus manufacturer Göteborg Energi, the housing association Riksbyggen and the Johanneberg Science Park.

Opel is planning to install more than 160 charging points for EVs at their research and development centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany. This is where the German carmaker will be researching future electrical grid concepts with the University of Kassel and the charging infrastructure specialists Flavia IT and Plug’n Charge.

French carmaker Renault and partners have published their plan for an Advanced Battery Storage system. They say it will become the largest energy storage system in Europe reutilising batteries from used electric vehicles. The modular system will comprise of multiple sites across France and Germany.

The Atlantic island of Belle-Île-en-Mer will be converted to a smart island by Renault, alongside partners Morbihan Energies, Les Cars Bleus and Enedis to be the first French smart island. A similar project was already kicked off on the Portuguese island of Porto Santo by Renault, as well.

Nissan and the university of Santa Catarina in Brazil have made an agreement to research battery second life functions for Nissan Leaf batteries as innovative energy storage solutions.

The British company Connected Energy has  adapted their energy storage system E-STOR to work with old EV batteries from the Jaguar I-Pace, as well as other water-cooled batteries from EVs by JLR.

Audi has joined the ranks of carmakers finding new uses for old electric car batteries as energy storage. The station has been set up close to Nuremberg in the south of Germany. Capturing 1,000 kWh, the second-life installation is run by local utilities.

For the first time, EVgo equipped one of their fast-charging station with a back-up made from reused batteries from the BMW i3. For now said stationary set-up is a standalone but EVgo say they are planning to expand such second-life applications.

The 3MW storage unit built from reused electric car batteries is among the largest such projects in Europe. Located at the back of the Ajax Amsterdam arena it the result of collaboration between Nissan, Eaton and others.

Belectric says it has commissioned three large projects in the UK and Germany based on thousands of electric car batteries, both used and new. The batteries from different manufacturers have a total capacity of 40 MWh and are providing frequency response services to grids in Europe.

Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy has turned a coal power plant into an energy storage facility. It holds close to 2,000 electric car batteries for a combined capacity of near 10 MWh available to the energy market. On top, these batteries may also return to power new smart electric vehicles.

With transport turning increasingly electric, fossil fuel powered cars and their innards don’t have a place anymore. So what to do with them once they become redundant? Are we going to toss them away, let them fill the scrapyards? Maybe not.

UPS has launched the ‘Smart Electric Urban Logistics’ (SEUL) initiative in London together with UK Power Networks and Cross River Partnership. Its new technology enables them to recharge an entire fleet of electric vehicles at the same time, thanks to stationery battery units.