There’s been a lot of debate about what to do with electric vehicle batteries when they’ve reached the end of their vehicular service life. It’s said that most retired EV batteries retain 70-80 percent of their original capacity, so disposing of them doesn’t make sense. Smartville, a Carlsbad, California company, has created a way to put those batteries to work. It developed the Smartville 360 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). This system repurposes automotive lithium-ion battery packs to provide energy storage. This power has many uses including energy backup, grid capacity expansion, and commercial and industrial peak demand reduction.

Smartville 360 Battery Energy Storage System Basics

Smartville obtains U.S.-sourced, high-quality, tier-1 EV batteries. The company has developed an industry-leading battery screening, qualification, and integration approach to accomplish this task. Smartville utilizes battery packs from multiple automotive makes and models that meet the company’s rigid specifications. The Smartville 360 BESS utilizes proprietary safety and battery power interfaces and an energy management system to ensure reliability. It also uses life-cycle optimization controls that result in reliable performance and longevity. Furthermore, the system offers comprehensive safety monitoring and intelligence with advanced fire detection and climate control. Another cool aspect of the Smartville 360 is that it features a building-block design. Capacity starts at 360 kWh, which can be combined to meet any commercial, industrial, and utility application.

Smartville company team members.

500 kWh System for Nissan North America

Nissan North America has contracted with Smartville for a 500 kWh Smartville 360 BESS. Nissan’s North America headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee will get a pair of units. Both units will use second-life Nissan Leaf battery packs supplied by Nissan 4R Energy U.S. The system will allow Nissan to lower energy bills. “Smartville is proud to join Nissan in deploying our innovative and industry-leading second-life EV battery energy storage product, Smartville 360,” said Antoni Tong, CEO of Smartville. “We’re targeting the growing volume of second-life EV batteries as a sustainable energy opportunity and, following several years of development, we are excited to have a commercial product ready for the market with the Smartville 360.”

University of California San Diego’s 500 kWh System

The Library Annex at the University of California San Diego has a 500 kWh Smartville 360 system. The UC San Diego system stores solar energy from a 200 kW rooftop solar array. This system allows for reduced demand after sunset, thus taking advantage of lower electricity rates. The system also provides 48 hours of emergency backup power.

The Smartville 360 BESS: a fully integrated, turnkey energy storage system.

About Smartville and Used EV Batteries

Among other accomplishments, the Smartville 360 was a winner of the Department of Energy’s Phase III of the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize in June 2022. The multiphase competition was created to “incentivize American entrepreneurs to develop and demonstrate processes that, when scaled, have the potential to profitably capture 90% of all discarded lithium-ion batteries.” Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Smartville $5.9 million in March 2023 “to breathe new life into batteries from retired electric vehicles (EV) via its Smartville 360 energy storage systems.” Antoni Tong, Smartville’s CEO, says, “Our second-life energy storage product repurposes EV batteries to reliably store power from solar and wind. The outcome is that the system can sustainably power our communities, lessening our dependence on external energy sources.”

More EVs Mean More Used Batteries

A March 2023 Smartville press release notes that approximately 200,000 Nissan Leafs and 1.6 million Teslas were sold in the U.S. over the last 10 years. Sales of EVs are expected to rise dramatically by 2035. The result: More batteries will be taken out of service as these cars age. The Smartville 360 is a great way to capitalize on the power the batteries have to offer.