Like a lithium-ion Pied Piper, Tesla has a knack of leading the way – and once again it seems the company is ahead of the curve when it comes to home energy storage systems.
At least automotive OEMs General Motors and Daimler believe so.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) North America’s GM is set to disclose plans for an alternative use the lithium-ion batteries from its Chevy Volt, reports USA Today.
It is very possible the U.S. giant will join Daimler in introducing a home energy storage unit, a’ la Tesla’s Powerwall.
The German firm is set to sell Mercedes-Benz branded lithium-ion batteries in a deal with utility EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG.
Daimler unit Deutsche Accumotive will produce batteries in 2.5 kilowatt-hour or 5.9 kilowatt-hour versions that can be linked together. Shipments will begin in October.
With most lithium-ion automotive batteries boasting a cycle-life of eight years or 100,000 miles, the units can have as much as 70% of its capacity when the vehicle nears its end of life.
It means OEMs are exploring alternative uses of vehicle batteries to reduce the costs, which currently range between about $300 and $500 per kilowatt-hour.
GM’s plans will be outlined on June 16 at a battery conference near Detroit, said USA Today.
Chevrolet is due to showcase its 2016 Volt at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference this week. The new Volt’s battery capacity will be 18.4 kWh using 192 ‘revised chemistry’ cells. The 2015 Volt had a 17.1 kWh lithium-ion battery.
Tesla reportedly received more than 40,000 reservations worth about $800 million in potential sales, in the first week of unveiling the Powerwall.
