Naturgy and Ciuden give a second life to vehicle batteries

Naturgy and the Energy City Foundation (CIUDEN) have successfully completed the first tests for the installation and start-up of an energy storage system based on second-life batteries from Mercedes-Benz brand electric vehicles.

The batteries used for the tests have a double origin: on the one hand, those that had been discarded at the factory due to temporary degradation and on the other, those that had already been removed from circulation after use on the road.

In this first experience, approximately 0.5 MWh of energy storage capacity has been installed and over the next two years, these second-life battery systems will allow exhaustive tests to be carried out to analyze their behavior in different situations and different scenarios. of use, to determine its performance, as well as its viability and efficiency in the long term.

In the opinion of Jesús Chapado, who heads Naturgy’s Innovation area, the project is linked to “the company’s commitment to innovation as a key tool in search for clean solutions for the energy transition in which we find ourselves immersed” and also addresses one of the “great future challenges, such as finding new uses for electric vehicle batteries at the end of their useful life, a waste destined to grow significantly in the coming years.”

The potential of second life batteries

This project, started a year ago, makes it possible to extract the potential of batteries that are no longer suitable for use in the automotive industry. Far from being useless, second-life batteries allow their usefulness to be exploited in other applications, thus generating economic and environmental benefits. Give them new use before recycling reduces waste generation and also mitigates the exploitation of natural resources, such as the minerals necessary for their manufacture.

Once batteries reach the end of their useful life in electric vehicles, they still retain between 70% and 80% of their capacity. This residual capacity makes them ideal candidates for stationary applications, such as the storage of renewable energy or to provide services to both the electrical grid and the industrial and residential areas associated with self-consumption facilities.

By reusing them, their life cycle is extended, their environmental impact is reduced and the proportion of clean energy that is integrated into the network increases. In addition, economic benefits are generated by reducing the costs associated with their disposal and by converting them into a valuable residual asset.

Alliance for sustainability and innovation

This joint initiative between Naturgy and the Ciudad de la Energía Foundation is an example of the commitment of both entities to technological innovation and sustainability, especially in the field of energy storage, a fundamental pillar in the transition towards a more sustainable energy model. decarbonized

This is how Javier Quiñones, executive director of CIUDEN’s R&D&i area, understands it, for whom “this project demonstrates how ideas based on the circular economy allow significant progress in the decarbonization of our society. The results of this public-private collaboration will be drivers both from a commercial point of view, as well as the development in the use of renewable energies, minimization of the carbon footprint and the generation of waste.”