Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has partnered with Wykes Engineering to develop an energy storage system in the UK to harness solar and wind power using second-life batteries from Jaguar’s prototype electric vehicles.
A single Wykes Engineering battery energy storage system (BESS) uses 30 second-life I-PACE batteries, and can store up to 2.5MWh of energy at full capacity.
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 by the end of 2023.
After this point more containers can be created to house additional second-life batteries removed from used production vehicles in the future.
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 are simply removed from the Jaguar I-PACE and slotted into racks in the containers on-site, helping to maximise the sustainability of the project.
François Dossa, Executive Director, Strategy and Sustainability at JLR, said: “Our sustainability approach addresses the entire value chain of our vehicles, including circularity of EV batteries.
“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 application to increase renewable energy opportunities.
“Using the 70-80% residual capacity in EV batteries, before being recycled, demonstrates full adoption of circularity principles.”
David Wykes, Managing Director of Wykes Engineering, added: “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.”