Used Waymo robotaxi batteries become backup storage for power grids

Key points

• Thousands of electric vehicles in Waymo’s autonomous robotaxi fleet may eventually give up their used batteries for a very different purpose—contributing up to hundreds of megawatt-hours of stationary energy storage to local power grids.
• That prospect comes from a “strategic supply agreement” announced by Waymo and B2U Storage Solutions on June 4. B2U has been repurposing thousands of used batteries from various electric vehicles by installing them in large stationary energy storage projects.
• Such energy storage facilities can capture excess renewable energy during low demand periods and release such energy when local power grids are experiencing peak demand periods.
• “Our business is getting the full residual value out of electric vehicle batteries after they’re no longer suitable for automotive use,” Freeman Hall, CEO of B2U Storage Solution, told Ars.
• “Waymo puts a lot of miles on EVs and their model is expanding rapidly, and so we’re just very pleased and...