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Volkswagen’s fast-charging park with mega power bank gives EV batteries a second life
20/7/2022
News
Volkswagen has commissioned the first fast-charging park in Saxony, Germany, which is supplied with energy largely from a power storage container (PSC), consisting of 96 cell modules with a net capacity of 570 kWh.
All the cell modules in the PSC at Volkswagen’s pilot project at the Zwickau vehicle plant were formerly installed as batteries in pre-production models of the auto manufacturer’s ID.3 and ID.4 vehicles and have now been given a second purpose. Two other central German companies – AW Automotive and Automotive Research – were involved in the project.
As a large battery storage unit, the PSC offers a cost-effective alternative to a transformer station, enabling large quantities of energy to be provided in a short time without overburdening the electricity grid. Another advantage is that the temporary storage of energy allows for high basic costs that would otherwise be incurred during standby operation, even when no vehicles are charging, to be avoided. The automotive power bank could therefore enable HPC (high power charger) infrastructure to be built in the future where previously only AC charging at a maximum of 11 kW has been possible, for instance in residential areas.
The charging park at the west gate of the Zwickau plant is made up of four charging stations, each with an output of 150 kW, which can also be divided into two outputs of 75 kW. This means that up to eight vehicles can charge at the same time. The electricity comes from the adjacent photovoltaic installation, among other sources.
As Volkswagen Sachsen has been purchasing green electricity since 2017, all vehicles are therefore charged with 100% renewable energy. Three fast-charging parks will be in operation on the plant grounds by the end of the year.
Karen Kutzner, Managing Director for Finance and Controlling at Volkswagen Sachsen, says: ‘With the power storage container, Volkswagen Sachsen is demonstrating a practical, cost-effective and useful case to enable cell modules at the end of their service lives to have a second life. This automotive power bank could be used wherever the capacity of the grid connection is too low but there is demand for powerful charging infrastructure.’
The Volkswagen PSC employs a similar concept to that used by Audi as part of its charging hub in Nuremberg. The container cubes consist of used lithium-ion batteries from disassembled Audi test vehicles that are used as buffer storage for DC electricity.
