Ever wondered what happens to a soul when it reaches the end of its life? Well, cast aside any ideas about getting to rest: it turns out that souls are getting put to use powering a ‘smart city’ complex in Berlin.
For the sake of clarity we are, of course, talking about the Kia Soul EV here – specifically about the batteries that powers the car. Because Kia Europe has become the latest car firm to start testing ‘second-life’ uses for worn car batteries.
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It’s part of Kia’s commitment to developing end-of-life processes to ensure batteries used for its vehicles can be reused or recycled. The Korean manufacturer is working with Encore, a start-up that’s part of transport giant Deutsche Bahn (DB), to develop a new battery storage facility that’s made entirely from reused Kia Soul EV battery modules.
Once the battery packs are removed from a Soul EV they are dismantled to the module level and put through diagnostic testing. Depending on their remaining capacity, the modules are then either used for a battery energy storage system or recycled.
The project is intended to be a Europe-wide initiative, and the two firms have just launched the first prototype battery storage facility at EUREF-Campus, a ‘smart city’ featuring residential, work and research spaces in Berlin, Germany that features energy-efficient buildings, a local smart grid and extensive use of regenerative energies.
The new battery storage system will form part of the EUREF-Campus Micro Smart Grid, which has been designed to reduce reliance on the grid through ensuring predictable energy flows that use an increased share of renewable energy.
The unit is comprised of 24 battery modules – each made of 14 double cells – which are then arranged over three racks. That links with a novel power conversion system and integrated battery management system to help balance the varying state of health of each battery module.
In total, the prototype unit can provide 72kWh of usable power, allowing it to store energy generated by solar power for later use. And yes, that does mean that the soul of a Kia Soul EV could be used to charge the latest Kia EV6.
Kia Europe president Jason Jeong said: “With our success in the electrification of Kia models, we also take responsibility for the batteries beyond their lifetime in the car. The pioneering partnership between Kia and encore/DB shows that we regard batteries as a valuable resource in terms of a sustainable circular economy.”
DB already operators a ‘battery take-back’ service in Europe to create second life battery energy storage systems.
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