Škoda Auto offers second life ESS solution to dealers

The Volkswagen Group company Škoda Auto announced the 27th May that they are introducing a specially designed energy storage system to be deployed at the companies' dealerships, making use of EV batteries previously installed in Škoda vehicles. The 328 kWh ESS can either host 20 13 kWh batteries from the companies plug-in hybrids, or five 82 kWh batteries from the new BEV Enyaq iV.

The systems are produced by the Czech company IBG Česko and can be used for several tasks, such as self consumption of solar power for dealers with photovoltaics or to reduce the power demand at the dealer's EV charging points.The energy storage system can be scaled up or down, and the batteries can be exchanged in a few simple steps if required.

So far 160 pre-orders have been received from dealers in Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia. The company estimates that more than 4,000 systems can be built in the coming years.

According to Škoda the experience from the pilot projects shows that the capacity of the batteries in the stationary storage systems only drops by around two per cent a year. Interestingly Škoda Auto has issues a two-year warranty on the energy storage systems and an eight years warranty for the second-life batteries.

Škoda says that batteries from test and pre-production vehicles will be used in the initial systems while end-of-life vehicles might be used when the volumes will allow it.

While the Škoda Auto is far from the first company to provide solutions for second life batteries they might be the first company to roll out a program which directly benefits their own dealers.

The big question is of course how they will be able to scale the solution and especially how they will source batteries. Usually up to 500 pre-production vehicles are produced for each model, which for BEVs would yield up to 100 systems per model. The rest needs to come from in-warranty replacement after repair or remanufacturing, but these batteries are of course needed as replacement batteries in cars. Another alternative is to use the systems for conditioned storage of new batteries which might be used for replacement in the cars, this way the systems would be important also from a logistical and customer satisfaction perspective.

Yet another alternative is to be the preferred buyer of EOL batteries from ATFs, something that not least would be important for the PHEV batteries as these often get a long shelf life at the car dismantlers.

More about the product here.