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Daimler Helps Devise Monster Battery Unit to Connect to the Grid, Prevent Fluctuations

Ever wondered what will happen to all those batteries sending juice to the motors in every EV on the streets nowadays? If everything goes according to plan, they will be recycled, of course.
Mega electricity storage unit by Daimler AG 1 photo
Photo: Daimler AG
Yes, but not before they get a new lease on life. Let us detail.

Truth be told, nobody really knows how much the batteries in the current fleet of EVs whizzing through towns (and from one another, if we’re talking about Teslas) will last. Manufacturers make bold claims and offer warranties of even eight or ten years, which would explain why everybody is so relaxed about it. But if notebooks and smartphones are anything to go by, most people will cash on that warranty in half the time promised.

When that happens, general knowledge says (or at least hopes) they will be dismantled, and everything that can be recycled (like the raw materials) will make the base for a new battery. Yet, in order to make the whole battery-building process even more efficient, after they’re taken off the cars, the battery packs will be incorporated into a large storage unit.

This monstrous device is going to be the world’s largest 2nd-use battery storage unit and is being put together by a joint venture between Daimler AG, The Mobility House AG and GETEC. It will have a total capacity of 13 MWh and is expected to make its debut on the German power grid early next year.

Large capacity energy storing devices are key to making the transition towards renewable energy. Their role is to store electricity from fluctuating sources such as wind farms and solar power stations and make it available when supply isn’t at its highest. Currently, this role is covered by polluting fossil fuel plants.

This German joint venture isn’t breaking the recycling chain we all know, it’s simply making sure that when a battery does make it to the scrap table, there really is no other use for it left other than the raw materials it’s made of.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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