
The French battery pack producer Forsee Power is partnering with the UK-based second life specialist Connected Energy to use retired bus batteries in stationary energy storage systems.
Forsee Power has long experience in the design of both battery packs and charging solutions to electric vehicles. In fact the company has been involved in second life solutions themselves for the Mitsubishi i-Miev/Citroen Z-cero/Peugeot Ion battery. Today the company designs batteries for heavy vehicles from companies such as Iveco Heuliez, Wrightbus and Caetano for which the company has deployed hundreds of systems.
Connected Energy is the leading company in Europe when it comes mid-scale ESS with several deployments ranging from 500 kwh to several MWh. This makes the company to a perfect partner to Forsee Power which is focused on the actual packs. Forsee Power designs its battery packs, usually based on NMC cells, to be reusable into second life application, ensuring software, mechanical and electrical designs compatibility to stationary applications.
The companies are now aiming to jointly offer second life solutions to Forsee Power's customers of the Forsee Zen 4 and Forsee Zen 35 high-energy which will be installed in Connected Energy E-STOR containers and M-STOR large scale installations.
A first E-STOR project consisting of about 3.5MWh is expected to be deployed in H2 2023. Another very large-scale second life (~40MWH) battery facility (M-STOR) will be installed in the UK and operational from Q3 2024.
This kind of relationship is what Circular Energy Storage has nominated to have most potential for profitable utilization over the battery's lifetime. The different partners have full control of the batteries throughout their lifetime ensuring both highest technical quality and best commercial terms.