‘Second-life’ battery project is B2U’s second in ERCOT, with more on the way

A company called B2U Storage Solutions just switched on its second big battery storage project in Texas, near San Antonio in CPS Energy's service area. What makes it notable: the whole 28-megawatt-hour installation is built from used electric vehicle batteries, more than 700 of them, that no longer meet a car's needs but still have plenty of life left for storing power on the grid. B2U says it already has at least 100 MWh of these "second-life" battery projects running and plans several more in Texas, with some starting construction this year and going into service in 2027.

This isn't a program homeowners sign up for, but it points to where grid batteries are headed. B2U recently struck a deal with Waymo, the self-driving car company, to reuse batteries from its aging robotaxi fleet, and expects that deal alone to eventually supply "hundreds of megawatts" of storage capacity. The company also says its projects cost up to 40% less than comparable new-battery systems and qualify for a federal tax credit bonus tied to using domestically made components.

For homeowners, the takeaway is mostly about the bigger trend: as more EVs age out and their batteries get repurposed instead of scrapped, it could mean cheaper, faster-to-build storage for local utilities and, potentially, a steadier grid in areas that use it. One expert cited says these secondhand batteries make up under 3% of storage today but could grow much larger by the 2030s if battery testing keeps improving.