Like Tesla, Daimler will start offering energy storage solutions, according to recent reports. They will be commercially available in September.
In 2009, Daimler founded the subsidiary ACCUmotive to develop lithium-ion batteries for its plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles, and smart vehicles. Since then, solar power costs have decreased and the energy storage market has expanded. These two very important trends must have captured Daimler’s attention, or perhaps it was another car manufacturer’s recent announcement that it was jumping into the energy storage game?
While the Daimler news may sound very surprising, it’s not completely, because the company’s intention is not entirely new. The subsidiary already has battery storage in operation: “Daimler’s first industrial-scale storage unit on the German power grid is being operated by the partners The Mobility House and GETEC through the joint venture Coulomb and marketed on the German energy exchange. Coulomb is deploying the energy storage plant from Kamenz, Saxony for the purposes of grid stabilisation and to smooth load peaks. These are tasks usually performed by coal-fired and nuclear power stations. 96 battery modules of the Mercedes-Benz energy storage plant with a total capacity of more than 500 kWh are already on the grid, to be increased step-by-step to 3000 kWh by the partners The Mobility House and GETEC in the coming weeks.”
The Daimler website also says that its energy storage technology is already being used in trials with household solar power systems. Additionally, it mentions a possible usage for the commercial version at supermarkets, especially on hot days.
The private energy storage system has a 2.5 kWh capacity and the industrial 5.9 kWh. For industrial contexts, 8 battery modules can be connected to create a 20 kWh system.
60,000 lithium-ion batteries have already been delivered by Deutsche ACCUmotive. The subsidiary’s workforce is expected to nearly double in 2016, and Daimler AG will invest €100 million.
Of course, Germany is a world leader in renewable energy, so it only seems logical that it has the potential to achieve the same or a similar status in the field of energy storage.
What next, will General Motors announce new energy storage products too?
Source: CleanTechnica. Reproduced with permission.
