Porsche reveals second life system based on Taycan batteries

The car maker Porsche has revealed it has built an energy storage systems based on 4,400 battery modules from their EV, the Taycan. The batteries come from pre-series and test vehicles and make up a total capacity of 10 MWh.

The energy storage system is primarily intended to support Porsche's Leipzig plant where it is located. The electricity is partly generated by the plant’s own solar systems with a peak output of MW. When peak loads occur, the energy storage system helps to reduce them. Porsche is now looking at implementing similar systems at other Porsche plants and facilities.

This was exactly what we at Circular Energy Storage was pushing for in our first report back in 2017 "Circular Opportunities in the Lithium-ion battery market", showing that the car plants them selves are low-hanging fruits for efficent energy storage through second life batteries. Similar systems have been made by Mercedes-Benz/Daimler, BMW, Renault and Audi. In the case for Renault and BMW the systems have also included new batteries which is a potential way to store batteries which later can be used as replacement batteries for warranty cases.

The large scale use of second life batteries has been playing a role in the end-of-life market for almost 10 years now although there was a peak before the pandemic. The concept could also be applied to real end-of-life batteries and could potentially be something for car dismantlers to consider as it is a way to monitize batteries while they are also conditioned. Lowest identified price for Porsche Taycan batteries sold by car dismantlers in Europe was in September $139/kWh largely driven by the potential to sell the pack back to the automotive market. If the batteries are kept in use they can generate revenues and still have a potential to be sold back to the market when there is enough demand.