New life for batteries
Volvo is giving batteries from heavy-electric machinery a second life in energy-storage systems by teaming up with Connected Energy, a UK-based company that specialises in repurposing vehicles’ end-of-life units.
The marque was among the investors in June 2022 when Connected Energy raised £15 million – around NZ$30.65m – with £4m coming from Volvo.
The Volvo Group, which is still in Swedish hands and making heavy-duty vehicles, joined new Connected Energy investors, such as Caterpillar, or energy business Mercuria last year.
The new deal between Connected Energy and Volvo will begin this year because the latter wants to launch battery energy-storage systems in Europe by early 2025.
Both companies will recover batteries from Volvo electric buses, trucks and machines, and create a second life for them in Connected Energy’s installations.
While Connected Energy will develop a system specific to Volvo, it has rolled out its existing E-Stor technology with partners such as Swarco in the UK and Renault in France.
Its recent projects include a large-scale vehicle-to-grid demonstrator in Nottingham, England, in which reused batteries connect to solar arrays and charge electric cars again.
