Second Life Idea: How Used Taycan Batteries Grew to become An Power Storage System for the Leipzig Plant

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It’s the dimensions of just about two basketball courts and consists of 4,400 battery modules: the brand new battery storage system to produce the Porsche Plant Leipzig with energy. The extraordinary factor is that this stationary vitality storage system was constructed out of used Taycan batteries. They had been taken from pre­collection and works automobiles and are actually being put to make use of as a stationary vitality storage system on the finish of their service life.

With the “Second Life” idea, Porsche is demonstrating how used high-voltage batteries from electrical automobiles may be put to good use and preserve sources in a second use section. The undertaking thought originated within the Environmental and Power Administration unit of the Stuttgart-based sports activities automotive producer.

A round financial system, sensible vitality provide and extra

The undertaking gives necessary insights into find out how to provide an automotive plant with vitality in an clever vogue. It additionally facilitates the growth of an adaptable energy grid. “In fact, that is about environmental points and the core difficulty of the vitality provide. Nevertheless it was additionally necessary to us to take a pioneering function with the storage system,” says Alwin Schmid, Head of Electrical Engineering at Porsche, explaining the targets of the undertaking.

Schmid is the initiator of the undertaking, which was primarily based on a feasibility research in collaboration with the College of Utilized Sciences Zwickau. “On this unprecedented mannequin undertaking, we had been in a position to mix numerous completely different targets, together with peak load capping, optimisation of self-consumption and simultaneous participation within the vitality market.” This versatility when it comes to utilization makes the Porsche pilot undertaking distinctive within the discipline of business vitality storage.

From the undertaking thought to implementation

“The undertaking exemplifies how we will use sources sustainably and mix this dedication with enterprise effectivity,” says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Govt Board for Manufacturing and Logistics at Porsche AG.

“We needed to create electrical energy storage capacities for the Leipzig plant so as to make the location much more economical and to extend its diploma of self-sufficiency. So it was solely logical to make use of batteries from Taycan preseries automobiles as an alternative of recycling them,” explains Jonathan Dietrich, total undertaking supervisor for battery storage. “We hope to achieve insights from the undertaking so as to have the ability to equip different Porsche places with comparable methods and capabilities sooner or later. On the identical time, we will utilise batteries from take a look at automobiles which might be not appropriate for demanding use within the automobile for a second helpful deployment earlier than their ultimate recycling.”

“Energy cubes” — the technical construction

The technical specs of the stationary battery storage system are spectacular: The whole capability is 5 megawatts with an vitality content material of 10 megawatt-hours. The storage system may be operated at as much as 20 per cent overload for brief intervals. It’s made up of 4,400 particular person battery modules, divided into 4 battery containers.

The battery modules used within the gruelling on a regular basis work of take a look at automobiles had been put in within the vitality storage system with none technical modifications. The 4 battery strings are every related to an inverter and a transformer in a medium-voltage system. Your complete system, together with the battery blocks, is designed for a helpful lifetime of greater than ten years; particular person battery modules may be changed individually if crucial.

Energy storage for the plant and a part of the vitality transition

The electrical energy for the storage system is partly generated by the plant’s personal photo voltaic methods with a peak output of 9.Four megawatts. When peak masses happen, the storage system helps to scale back them. This “peak shaving” is turning into more and more necessary on this period of upper electrical energy necessities as a result of electromobility, warmth pumps and different electrical customers, as capped load peaks not solely cut back grid expenses however ideally also can cut back the necessity for expanded upstream grids.

Quickly controllable vitality storage methods such because the system on the Leipzig plant additionally play an necessary function within the vitality market. The stationary battery storage system can be built-in into the balancing vitality market in each marketable kind by the top of the yr — together with, along with peak shaving, as a grid stabiliser for the upstream distribution grids.

Porsche manufacturing — carbon-neutral and utilizing renewable vitality

Porsche manufacturing at its websites in Zuffenhausen, Leipzig and Weissach has been carbon-neutral since 2021. Since 2017, Porsche has been utilizing solely electrical energy from renewable vitality sources. The manufacturing websites in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and Leipzig, for instance, obtain their vitality from inexperienced electrical energy and biomethane. The Leipzig web site additionally obtains district heating from biomass.

Article by Porsche. Ekkehard Kleindienst, Spokesperson Manufacturing and Logistics.