Smartville, a leading developer of reliable second-life energy storage systems, was awarded $5.9 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to breathe new life into batteries from retired electric vehicles (EV) via its MOAB™ energy storage systems. The grant, part of a $75-million funding package through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, awards a total of 10 projects that advance technologies and processes supporting EV battery recycling and reuse efforts across the country.
Smartville will apply the funds to accelerate the commercialization of its large-scale, second-life energy storage system that uses repurposed EV batteries. First, the funding will help with Smartville’s plans to have MOAB become a UL certified second-life EV battery pack energy storage system. Second, it will fund a large 4 MWh demonstration project in central California co-located with an existing power plant operated by a California independent power producer in an underserved disadvantaged community.
“Our second-life energy storage product repurposes EV batteries to reliably store power from solar and wind,” said Antoni Tong, Smartville’s CEO. “The outcome is that the system can sustainably power our communities, lessening our dependence on external energy sources.”
In the last 10 years, about 200,000 Nissan Leafs and more than 1.6 million Teslas have been sold in the U.S. and sales for EVs are expected to rise dramatically by 2035. The number of second-life EV batteries will continue to grow quickly, turning waste management challenges into sustainable energy opportunities. Most batteries retired from EVs retain 70 percent of their storage capacity, making them ideal candidates for stationary storage before being recycled. Smartville’s proprietary suite of software, hardware and diagnostics provides guaranteed performance from repurposed EV batteries for stationary storage serving enterprise and utility customers.
