The BESS, which uses second-hand batteries at the Porsche Leipzig factory, has a capacity of 5 MW and an energy content of 10 MWh. The system can be used for short periods with an overload of up to 20%. The 4,400 battery modules of the Porsche Taycan electric sports cars are housed in four battery containers.
The use of second-life batteries increases value in the battery value chain, as used batteries can remain in stationary storage systems for up to ten years before being recycled. The battery storage system of the Porsche factory in Leipzig is supplied with energy from the factory’s own solar system with a peak power of 9.4 MW. The second-life battery storage system can help reduce peak loads, storing energy for later use.
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The summer edition of pv magazinewhich goes out today, takes to the beaches to pursue the solar energy advances being developed on island nations around the world. Ranging from Mauritius to Réunion and from the Caribbean to the Orkneys, we look at solar energy on small islands and consider new mining techniques to meet rising global demand for lithium battery material.
Jonathan Dietrich, general project manager for battery storage, explains that the project aims to make the site more economical and increase the factory’s self-sufficiency. “We hope to gain insights from the project to equip other Porsche locations with similar systems and capabilities in the future. At the same time, we can use batteries from test cars that are no longer suitable for demanding in-vehicle use for a second useful use before final recycling.”
The model project has been able to combine a number of different functions, such as peak load limitation, self-consumption optimization and energy market participation, as is common in BESS stabilizing networks.
“The project illustrates how we can use resources sustainably and combine this use with business efficiency,” says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Board of Management for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG.
Second-hand and recycled new batteries from high-performance electric vehicles such as cars, trucks and buses are already being integrated into stationary storage systems in commercial products such as from German companies such as The Mobility House and the startup Voltfang, among others. In Japan, a recently established joint venture between Honda and Mitsubishi Corporation, called Altna, focuses on second-hand applications.
Also in Europe, software company Circunomics specializes in helping battery users find suitable second life boxes for batteries before they are recycled. In China, this aspect of the battery life cycle is described as ‘cadence’ or ‘ladder use’, which in addition to stationary storage includes several other second-life applications such as slower and smaller electric vehicles such as mopeds and scooters.
