Hyundai Motor aims reusing spent-up EV batteries as energy storage systems in Texas

Hyundai Motor Group has collaborated with Texas-based groups CPS Energy and OCI Solar Power to test whether spent-up electric vehicle batteries could be reused as energy storage systems.

ESS stores leftover electricity by renewables such as solar and wind power.

The three firms will establish an ESS facility in September that can store a half-megawatt power, which is enough to power some 100 homes for a day.

Hyundai would provide its independently developed ESS, while CPS would operate the facility, and OCI would manage the software.

The objective is to extend the shelf life of EV batteries, which have to be replaced once their capacity falls below 70 percent, according to Hyundai Motor.

CPS, a municipally-owned electric and natural gas utility, powers some 1.2 million households. OCI, which supplies solar power for CPS, is one of Texas' largest utility-scale solar energy developers.