UK car maker Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Wykes Engineering to develop what it calls “one of the largest” battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the UK. It will harness solar and wind power using second-life batteries from its Jaguar I-PACE model.
It said a single Wykes Engineering BESS uses 30 second-life I-PACE batteries and can store up to 2.5 MWh of energy at full capacity.
The BESS will be installed at three locations in the Wykes-owned Chelveston renewable energy park in the Midlands region of England.
The batteries supplied come from prototype and engineering test vehicles, and JLR aims to supply enough batteries to store a total of 7.5 MWh of energy by the end of 2023.
More containers can be created to house additional second-life batteries removed from used production vehicles in the future, it said.
Each BESS is linked to an inverter to maximise efficiency and manage the energy. JLR said there is no need for additional manufacturing or removal of battery modules. The batteries are simply removed from the cars and slotted into racks in the containers on site.
Quoting a McKinsey report, it said second-life battery supply for stationary applications like renewable energy storage could exceed 200 GWh per year by 2030, with a global value of over $30 billion.
JLR’s batteries are engineered to a standard to be deployable in low-energy situations once their health falls below the requirements of an electric vehicle, which typically leaves a 70-80% residual capacity, it said.
