Second-life batteries

HPC Park with second-life batteries

Volkswagen has launched a fast-charging park at its Zwickau electric car plant, which gets much of its energy from a so-called Power Storage Container (PSC). In the future, the solution will also be used in residential areas, for example, since it is not necessary to install a medium voltage transformer for the PSC.

The energy storage container consists of 96 cell modules with a total net capacity of 570 kWh , which were fitted to pre-production ID.3 and ID.4 vehicles and are given a" stationary draw- in operation", according to the statement. The PSC is a" cost-effective volition to the motor station". Before the end of the year, three fast-charging parks will be put into operation at the factory facilities.

The Zwickauer Tor West charging station consists of 4 charging columns with 2 charging points each. Each column offers up to 150 kW of power or 2 x 75 kW if both charging points are occupied. The electricity for the charging park is generated, among other things, in the photovoltaic system located directly next door and is otherwise drawn from the grid - since Volkswagen Saxony has been buying green electricity since 2017, all vehicles are They thus charge with 100% renewable energy.

With the PSC, Volkswagen Saxony relies on a solution thatAudi is already using it successfully for the first time at the Audi Charging Hub in Nuremberg . The container cubes are made up of used lithium-ion batteries, which (in the Nuremberg case) come from dismantled Audi test vehicles and serve as intermediate storage for direct current.

The statement does not specify which connected load the 570 kWh PSC from Zwickau requires. However, with a storage drive of this size, various fast charging processes are possible; the network, instead, is only loaded with the lowest connected load. VW also mentions another advantage in the press release: intermediate energy storage should avoid the high base costs that would otherwise occur in standby mode, even if no vehicle is being charged . The transformation centers of the rapid recharging parks, which are connected to the medium voltage network, work 24 hours a day; furthermore, the initial investments for these devices may be high.

Like Audi, VW Saxony sees the first charging park with second-life storage as a pilot project to gain experience with the technology. The advantage is that fast charging infrastructure can be built almost anywhere, even in places with a low-capacity network connection. Residential areas are one example of where it could be used the statement says. However, the scalability of these second-life storage charging solutions naturally depends on the availability of retired battery cells. If new cells were installed in intermediate storage units, the initial investment would also be significantly higher in this case.

"The reuse of batteries is important for the future and is closely linked to the acceleration of the trend towards electric mobility" , says Karen Kutzner,  General Manager of Finance and Control of Volkswagen Saxony. "With the energy storage container, Volkswagen Saxony is demonstrating a practical, cost-effective and useful case for enabling end-of-life cell modules to have a second life. This automotive power bank could be used wherever the capacity connection to the grid is too low but there is demand for a powerful charging infrastructure. Innovative ideas like this could give new impetus to the creation of a fast charging infrastructure."

 

Tesla planning to start production o4680 cells at Texas Giga

Tesla plans to start production of 4680-format battery cells at the Texas Gigafactory this quarter and outperform the Kato pilot line there, near the Fremont, California, car plant, by the end of the quarter. of year.

This was explained by the head of Tesla, Drew Baglino, during the analyst conference on the latest quarterly figures. Currently, the production of 4,680 cells on the pilot line is still not enough for 1,000 vehicles per week. The challenge remains to control the production processes of new technologies, including dry electrodes. As the "Electric" portal extrapolates , this can be cross to an annual production storage of the less than  Four GWh.

But: Being a pilot line, the four GWh or 1,000 vehicles per week limit is not surprising. Large-scale production is expected to change this soon. Specially for Texas, the installation of cell equipment and commissioned last quater, and our first produced test vehicles with Texas cells " said Baglino. "Our goal for Texas is to start production this quarter and Texas should be able to surpass Kato's weekly production before the end of this year .Kato" is Tesla's current pilot line in Fremont, located on Kato Road. This facility is often referred to as Tera.

But Tesla has also made progress at Kato recently: Since March, production has risen 35% each month, Electrek writes, citing the analysts' call.

At Giga Texas in Austin, which opened in April, Tesla is building the standard-range version of the Model Y, which is only available in North America, with all 4,680 cells and structural battery packs . However, the Model Y Long Range, now being built there as well, will probably still use conventional battery packs with the smaller 2170 cells.

According to Tesla, it does not depend on the progress of 4680 production in California and Texas: Elon Musk explained that Tesla has enough cells of the 2170 format to cover all vehicle production for the rest of the year. He stressed that the 4680 cells will become important in 2023, not this year.

Furthermore, Tesla's perspective is not to rely solely on its own 4680 production: Tesla's partner Panasonic shipped the first 4680 sample cells to Tesla and began its own pilot production in Japan in May. The battery factory for series production is probably be built in Kansas in last week. Samsung SDI is building its pilot line of the 4680 in Cheonan, with serial production said to take place later in Malaysia.