This Football Stadium In Netherlands Is Completely Powered By Used Electric Car Batteries

Electric vehicles are on a roll, literally, if you have a look at their global sales. The emission free mode of transport gained a lot of interest in the last few years and now are the primary focus of many of the automobile giants. With their increased use, one pertinent question is being raised. What happens to their lithium-ion batteries once they are old?

We had covered the various possible uses for old lithium-ion batteries in an article earlier. One such use mentioned an American company Eaton, working with Nissan, BAM and The Mobility House powering Johan Cruijff ArenA, a huge stadium in Netherlands which serves as the home to the renowned football club Ajax. Interestingly, the company uses old Nissan Leaf batteries for the purpose.

The setup claims enough power to back up 7000 Amsterdam houses for one hour, or charge 5,00,000 iPhones. Its ¡°green¡± impact can be measured from the fact that it claims to save 116,683 tons of CO2.

It seems Eaton is now working on several such projects. A supplier of truck parts and industrial products as well as an energy storage company, Eaton has found a good business potential in doing so. The company estimates that the energy storage industry will grow by up to 20 times by 2022, possibly reaching a $2.3 billion market value.

Johan Cruijff Stadium in Netherlands (Image: Nissan)

Also read: A Solar Car With 725 Km Range! The Lightyear One May Be The Next Revolution In Mobility

For starters, the company is now in talks with at least five to six major European football teams for their respective stadiums. But how and why is an energy storage system based on second hand lithium-ion batteries helpful? After all, it is just storing the energy and not generating it in an environmentally-friendly way, right?

Such battery based storage systems are meant to replace diesel-run generators, which are in fact quite a polluting way of generating energy. While these systems will be dependent on the grid for supplying energy at first, they will be able to deliver it as well, at times when the grid energy is at a high demand, essentially taking pressure of the grid.

Moreover, they have the potential to work as a self-sustaining unit as well. Just couple them to a clean energy source and you have a complete, self-sustainable energy model powering an infrastructure. Solar energy, for instance, has been coupled to the Eaton¡¯s energy storage system at the Norway¡¯s Bislett stadium.

But then, why use old lithium ion batteries for the purpose instead of new ones?

Lithium-ion battery (Representative Image: Reuters)

Also read: Man Who Shaped China As A Mobility Leader Thinks Hydrogen Fuel-Cells Are The 'Next Big Thing'

The question can be answered by knowing about the condition of the so called ¡°used¡± batteries. Electric vehicle manufacturers guarantee the life of such batteries for 8-years. This often corresponds to a battery losing 30% of its efficiency over the course of time. While such a battery will not be perfect for a vehicle which has a solid range to maintain, they can still easily be used in a large pack to store energy.

Energy storage has a huge potential to change the way the world uses its energy, and not just for such big projects. Such storage systems can be used in regular households to capture energy and provide it in times of need. There are several such systems being sold by different manufacturers. Tesla, for example, sells its home battery - Powerwall which basically works in a similar way. As per Tesla, the powerwall coupled with the Tesla solar panels can charge an entire home on a typical day. How is that for a completely green energy that keeps you off the grid! LG Chem, EOS Energy Storage, Sonnen and even Nissan are just some of the companies working on the cause and solving the world¡¯s energy problems at the same time. Kudos to them!