2023-10-05 04:29:00
In terms of ecological transition, energy storage is considered one of the essential challenges in the rise of renewable energies. At the same time, the rise of electric mobility poses new challenges, particularly those of collecting and recycling end-of-life batteries.
While the end of thermal engines is announced for 2035 in Europe, the production chain of electric vehicles is closely interested in the use that will be made of these lithium batteries, the extraction of which is not without consequences on the environment and whose lifespan is estimated at 10-12 years. This is precisely the equation that the Automotive Batteries Reuse (ABR) research project, developed by three companies and a university center at Janais near Rennes, an emblematic location for the automobile industry in Brittany, intends to resolve.
Launched in January 2022, this initiative certified by the ID4Mobility competitiveness cluster seeks to give a second life to used batteries from electric cars built by Stellantis (Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel, etc.) to store electricity. It has just materialized with the announcement of the installation of two demonstrators.
Create an innovative sector
« After their first use, electric batteries retain between 75% and 80% of their storage capacity, they are not dead but for automotive use they lose their autonomy capacity. explains Franck Al Shakarchi, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Entech.
Leader of ABR, the Quimper SME Entech Smart Energies, specializing in the search for energy conversion and storage solutions (solar, hydrogen, ENR), will welcome in the first quarter of 2024 on its Quimper site one of the two demonstrators, the other being installed on the Excelcar industrial fablab platform in La Janais.
« The challenge of this two-year project is to remove technical and economic obstacles to set up an industrialization sector for dismantling and recycling used batteries in order to give them a second life by transforming them into a storage solution for energy » adds Franck Al Shakarchi.
With a total cost of one million euros, ABR is supported by the Brittany Region to the tune of more than 400,000 euros over two years, and by the communities of Quimper Bretagne Ouest (50,000 euros) and Rennes Métropole (39,000 euros) . On the industrial level, the project involves the manufacturer Stellantis, the adapted company Talendi (formerly Bretagne Ateliers) and the University of Bretagne Sud (UBS) in Lorient.
Develop a battery of skills
Each of the partners brings their expertise. Entech is working in particular on the creation of a digital twin intended for monitoring battery performance indicators. In addition to supplying used battery packs, the manufacturer Stellantis provides safety training.
An integrator-integrator with 600 employees, Talendi is a provider of industrial and digital services. The company works more specifically on the dismantling aspect. Two people take care of disassembling the battery packs into modules.
UBS, via the Dupuy Research Institute in Lôme, is developing battery diagnostic systems and the algorithms for their “digital twins”, necessary for another type of storage.
“Managing to reuse used batteries to create energy storage solutions for various applications potentially means improving the carbon footprint of batteries, on the one hand by postponing the date of their disposal, on the other hand by responding to the problem of intermittent production of renewable energies » points out Sophie Molina, thermal and storage engineer at Entech.
Listed on the stock exchange, the company of 150 employees has a 2022-2023 turnover of 34.5 million euros, an increase of 65%, with a target of 120 million euros in revenue by 2026 Boosted by its activities in the construction of photovoltaic power plants and the development of storage systems, it invests one million euros per year in its R&D division, including 350,000 euros in ABR over two years.
Small mobility charging and ENR storage
Among the applications targeted by ABR are energy charging for small mobility (electric bicycles for example) and the residential sector. Talendi is particularly working on a prototype of an energy storage cabinet dedicated to these modest uses while Entech is interested in so-called “stationary” storage of renewable energies.
Via its demonstrator, the SME intends to reuse 14 battery packs with a power of 700 kWh to design a storage cabinet to compensate for the variability of ENR production for load transfer and network services.
« This might make it possible to organize operations to smooth renewable energies or to strengthen the capacity for collective self-consumption through solar panels. » explains Sophie Molina.
Replacement of generators
By 2030, the leaders of the ABR project would like to be ready to offer potential users, such as energy companies or industrialists who consume large amounts of energy, an organized regional sector, at a time when the electric mobility market is set to explode. .
According to figures evaluated by Entech, second-life batteries available in 2030 might reach a capacity of 140 GWh while the stationary storage market to meet the needs of networks should reach, in 2030, 160 GWh/year including 35 GWh/year in Europe.
« Secondary storage solutions life might therefore cover a large part of the needs of the stationary market » anticipates Christopher Franquet, CEO and founder of Entech, who believes the growth of this sector is possible. With Stellantis, Entech is working in parallel on another use: the replacement of the diesel generator.
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