Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to develop one of the largest renewable energy storage systems in the UK from used Jaguar I-PACE car batteries.
The car giant has partnered with Wykes Engineering to harness solar and wind power using second-life batteries, which can store up to 2.5MWh of energy at full capacity.
Jaguar executive director, strategy and sustainability François Dossa said the new developments address “the entire value chain of JLR vehicles, including circularity of EV batteries.”
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 – enough to power 750 homes for a day – 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.
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The battery energy storage system, 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.
JLR say battery storage systems like this are critical to decarbonising the grid, as they can deal with rapid peaks in demand, and maximise solar and wind energy capture during sunny or windy conditions for use when needed.
The reuse of vehicle batteries forms part of JLR’s ambition to adopt circular economy principles based on a Use Less, Use Longer, Use Again philosophy to limit the use of virgin materials.
JLR sustainable industrial operations director Reuben Chorley said: “Developing second-life battery projects like this is crucial to helping JLR adopt a new circular economy business model and drive us toward achieving carbon net zero by 2039.”
Elsewhere, JLR-owner Tata announced its £4 billion investment on a giant new UK 40GWh electric vehicle battery factory.
The new factory, which will be one of the largest in Europe at 40GWh, will secure UK-produced batteries for Jaguar Land Rover, as well as other car manufacturers across Europe.
