General Motors Co. and ABB Group on Wednesday showed off a second use for old electric-vehicle batteries: Using them as a way to store electricity that can then light homes in the event of a power failure. Or, they could store electricity from a time of day when power is cheaper, and then deliver that electricity during more expensive peak-demand times.
The companies teamed up with Duke Energy to package five Chevrolet Volt lithium-ion batteries into a unit which could provide about two hours of electricity for three to five average U.S. homes. The unit can provide 25 kilowatt hours of power and 50 kilowatt hours of energy.
"This is an industry first to be able to do secondary automotive batteries in a grid-based application," said Pablo Valencia, GM's senior manager of battery lifecycle management, at a GM Electrification Experience media event in Sausalito.