01 September 2023
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Proposed Wykes Engineering battery energy storage system
: credit: © JLR
JLR to develop one of the largest energy storage systems in the UK from used car batteries
Say what you will about EVs, but you can’t deny the benefits of a new Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that Jaguar Land Rover has launched in collaboration with Wykes Engineering. In fact, it will be one of the UK’s largest – and it will harness solar and wind power by using second-life EV batteries.
The BESS will help both decarbonise the National Grid and deal with peaks in demand. According to JLR, just 30 second-life Jaguar I-Pace batteries can store 2.5MWh of energy at full capacity, enough to power around 250 homes a day.
Just 30 second-life Jaguar I-Pace batteries can power around 250 homes a day
The batteries supplied have been taken from prototype and engineering test vehicles, and JLR aims to supply enough batteries to store a total of 7.5MWh of energy – enough to power 750 homes for a day – by the end of 2023. After this point more containers can be created to house additional second-life batteries removed from written-off production vehicles from the JLR fold.
Each BESS, which is linked to an advanced inverter to maximise efficiency and manage energy, is capable of supplying power direct to the National Grid during peak hours as well as drawing power out of the grid during off-peak hours to store for future use.
As part of the technical collaboration, Wykes Engineering and JLR have achieved seamless integration, with no need for additional manufacturing steps or the removal of battery modules. The batteries (with around a 70-80 per cent residual capacity) are simply removed from the vehicles and slotted into racks in the containers on-site, helping to maximise the sustainability of the project.
Second-life battery supply for stationary applications, such as renewable energy storage, could exceed 200 gigawatt-hours per year by 2030, creating a global value over $30billion.
Once the battery’s health falls below the required level for these second-life applications, JLR will recycle the batteries, recovering the raw materials for re-use as part of a true circular economy.