What will be the fate of the Chevrolet Volt's lithium-ion batteries once they've expired their use in cars?
DETROIT, MI - What will be the fate of the Chevrolet Volt's lithium-ion batteries once they've expired their use in cars?
One answer is apparently to help power the General Motors Enterprise Data Center at the Milford Proving Ground.
GM said Tuesday five batteries from the first-generation Volt are working in parallel with a 74-kilowatt solar array and two 2-kilowatt wind turbines to provide energy to the GM's data center building.
The batteries also have the capacity to provide back-up power for four hours in the event of an outage, GM said.
The set-up has given the Enterprise Data Center a net-zero energy use on an annual basis, and extra power will be sent back to the grid used by the Milford Proving Ground.
As it readies to sell its all-new, second-generation Volt, GM said first-gen cars still have a lot of leftover juice in their battery packs for stationary use.
"Even after the battery has reached the end of its useful life in a Chevrolet Volt, up to 80 percent of its storage capacity remains," Pablo Valencia, GM's senior manager of battery life cycle management, said in a release. "This secondary use application extends its life, while delivering waste reduction and economic benefits on an industrial scale."
The first-generation plug-in hybrid Volt went on sale in 2010 for the 2011 model year. It uses battery power to get an electric range of about 35-38 miles, before switching to gasoline.
The 2016 Volt, unveiled last January in Detroit, will have about a 31 percent greater electric range than its predecessor. The second-gen Volt has about a 50-mile, all-electric range, and a total driving range of about 400 miles when combined with a gasoline engine.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter