Dealing with batteries in a sustainable manner through re-use

Prevention of power peaks when it comes to electricity consumption from charging electric buses

50 used vehicle batteries combined together to create one storage system

The question of how used batteries from electric vehicles can be used after their first life in the vehicle is now being explored by three companies in a ground-breaking pilot project. The joint project from MAN Truck & Bus, Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein (VHH) and the Volkswagen Group is being carried out in the Bergedorf quarter of Hamburg, at the VHH bus depot. A white container containing 50 batteries – which were previously installed in VW Passat GTE vehicles – is located here. Each battery has a nominal capacity of 9.9 kWh, meaning that the container has a total capacity of exactly 495 kWh – about half a megawatt. The batteries are mounted on racks and then interconnected via battery management to form a large battery. One objective of the project is to develop a flexible battery storage concept which allows for the replacement of batteries.

The "second use" energy storage system is the product of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein and MAN Truck & Bus signed in March 2018. Since directly disposing of batteries which were installed in vehicles is not environmentally sound, the two companies want to put re-using these batteries in a stationary storage system to the test.

Stefan Sahlmann, Head of MAN Transport Solutions says: “Battery second use is an extremely important topic in view of the ever-growing electrification of mobility as a whole. In the Bergedorf quarter of Hamburg, we want to investigate how used batteries behave together with our project partner – so that we are able to develop future applications based on that. The project with VHH and Volkswagen is part of our strategy to make transportation of the future sustainable.”