• Jaguar together with Wykes Engineering has developed a way to store excess solar energy using second-life batteries.
• The batteries from Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles can be easily slotted into the engineering firm’s containers allowing for easy installation and implementation.
• Once these batteries are exhausted they are recycled for raw materials.

Second-life batteries have been used in electric vehicles but have a capacity of around 70 percent making them poorly suited for the hard task of moving a vehicle.

However, throwing these batteries onto a landfill isn’t a great way to carve a path toward sustainability. To that end, Jaguar recently tested whether one could use second-life batteries in other applications. The test saw Jaguar using older I-PACE batteries to charge its Formula E racing car.

Now however, things have been ramped up with Jaguar partnering with UK firm Wykes Engineering to store renewable energy.

Wykes Engineering has created a simple solution that it calls BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) that links 30-second-life I-PACE batteries together to store 2.5MWh of capacity. These batteries were taken from prototype and test vehicles but Jaguar Land Rover aims to supply enough batteries to power 750 homes for a day by the end of 2023.

“Our EV batteries are engineered to the highest standards and this innovative project, in collaboration with Wykes Engineering, proves they can be safely reused for energy sector applications to increase renewable energy opportunities. Using the 70-80% residual capacity in EV batteries, before being recycled, demonstrates full adoption of circularity principles,” executive director, strategy and sustainability at Jaguar Land Rover, François Dossa said in a media statement.

The BESS solution sees batteries from I-PACE vehicles being placed into a container where they are charged via solar power. These energy stores are connected to the grid where they can discharged and provide power to citizens who need it during peak hours.

“One of the major benefits of the system we’ve developed is that the containers are connected to the Grid in such a way that they can absorb solar energy that could otherwise be lost when the grid reaches capacity. This excess energy can now be stored in the second life I-PACE batteries and discharged later. This allows us to ‘overplant’ the solar park and maximise the amount of power we generate for the area of land we are using,” managing director for Wykes Engineering, David Wykes, said in a statement.

As these are batteries, they can also be charged from the grid so that there is power available during peak hours or when demand is especially high.

Once these second-life batteries have reached the end of their usefulness, they are recycled with the goal of retrieving as many raw materials as possible for reuse.

It’s great to see projects like this and we hope to see South Africa’s lawmakers looking at solutions such as this when it comes to fighting loadshedding.