Waymo’s old EV batteries are no longer heading straight for recycling. Instead, they will now help store clean energy for local power grids.
On Thursday, the robotaxi company announced a new partnership with B2U Storage Solutions, which specializes in repurposing EV batteries for grid-scale storage systems.
“Our shared fleet of EVs provide a massive opportunity to support the growth of clean energy on the electricity grid while expanding the circular economy,” said Adam Lenz, head of Sustainability & Environment at Waymo, in a press release. “Through this partnership, we can repurpose our batteries for local grid storage and ensure our batteries continue to provide economic and environmental value to the community long after they’ve retired from the road.”
According to the company, after Waymo’s EV batteries are no longer suitable for driving, they will be sent to B2U Storage Solutions to help stabilize power grids, extending their lifespan in the process.
“We’ll be receiving thousands of batteries from Waymo, and these batteries can last seven or more years powering the grid with clean energy,” said B2U Storage Solutions CEO Freeman Hall in a video about the partnership.
The batteries will specifically be used to store surplus renewable energy when production peaks during the middle of the day and then dispatch that energy during peak demand in the evening.
Hall described the process as plug-and-play, meaning the company can take a battery from a car and get it connected to the grid in a matter of days.
The video shows the batteries being placed in server-like sheds, with several racks holding six batteries each.
Waymo says the partnership could eventually deploy hundreds of megawatt-hours of storage capacity. The first deployments will be in Texas and California, where the company already operates fleets of robotaxis.
The news comes as Waymo has been quickly expanding its fleet and coverage area. The robotaxi startup announced last month that it is expanding its coverage area in Miami and will soon grow its footprint in Austin, Atlanta, Houston, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
In total, Waymo said it would cover more than 1,400 square miles across 11 cities. The company bragged that its coverage area will eventually be larger than the entire state of Rhode Island, which is roughly 1,200 square miles.
The company also announced earlier this year that it plans to scale production at its Phoenix-area factory to tens of thousands of vehicles per year.
In Texas, Waymo’s fleet already dwarfs Tesla’s competing Robotaxi service.
Tesla had only 42 registered robotaxis as of the end of May, according to a Texas Department of Motor Vehicles database. In contrast, Waymo had 577 registered vehicles in the state.
