German agency provides ‘second life’ to used EV batteries
By L�a PERNELLE
Aachen, Germany (AFP) Aug 21, 2025
A German firm is placing used electrical automobile batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size items that houses and companies can use to retailer their extra photo voltaic and wind vitality.
This week, the corporate Voltfang — which suggests “catching volts” — opened its first industrial website in Aachen, close to the Belgian and Dutch borders.
With round 100 workers, Voltfang says it’s the largest facility of its sort in Europe within the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries.
Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it’s going to assist Europe’s largest financial system ween itself off fossil fuels and more and more depend on climate-friendly renewables.
Whereas wind generators now dot Germany’s countryside and photovoltaic panels are discovered on many rooftops, he says the nation nonetheless must construct up battery storage capability.
“We wish to guarantee European sovereignty in vitality provide by enabling renewable vitality manufacturing by storage,” Oudsandji, 29, advised AFP.
“We are able to generate huge quantities of electrical energy from photo voltaic and wind vitality, then retailer it in a decentralised method all throughout Germany and distribute it,” he mentioned.
“Which means the extra renewable vitality we use, the extra storage capability we deploy, the much less we’d like fossil gasoline or oil.”
Inside the positioning, technicians obtain used EV batteries and check them to find out their remaining lifespans.
These nonetheless discovered to be in good situation are reconditioned for his or her “second life” and fitted inside cupboards the dimensions of huge fridges — successfully enormous energy banks for extra electrical energy.
Among the many first clients is the low cost grocery store chain Aldi Nord, which desires to retailer energy from its rooftop photo voltaic panels for later use.
– Clear vitality push –
Voltfang, based in 2020 by three college engineering college students, goals to supply sufficient techniques by 2030 to retailer a capability of 1 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electrical energy per 12 months, sufficient for 300 houses.
It’s certainly one of many small steps meant to assist Germany’s decades-old “Energiewende”, or vitality transition.
Final 12 months, renewables coated practically 60 p.c of electrical energy produced in Germany, and the goal is 80 p.c by 2030.
One drawback for photo voltaic and wind is what to do on days when the solar does not shine and the wind does not blow.
Such “darkish lulls”, commonest in winter, have at instances compelled Germany to briefly import energy produced by French nuclear reactors or Polish coal vegetation.
To ensure a safe provide, conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s authorities plans to construct round 20 new gas-fired energy vegetation by 2030.
The Greens and environmental teams have denounced this as a step backwards in German local weather coverage and concern the nation is not going to meets its aim of carbon neutrality by 2045.
– Round financial system –
Europe’s battery sector remains to be nascent however anticipated to develop quick.
“In our opinion, small-scale distributed vitality belongings equivalent to battery storage will play a serious position to create environment friendly vitality techniques,” mentioned Marc Sauthoff of the enterprise consultancy Roland Berger.
The stationary storage market is rising exponentially in Germany: about six GWh of capability had been put in at end-2024, up from 2.5 GWh in 2022, he mentioned.
Voltfang hopes to be worthwhile by subsequent 12 months, Oudsandji mentioned, although he conceded there are hurdles.
For one factor, the provision of used EV batteries remains to be small, given that almost all autos have been on the street for just a few years.
Additionally, new batteries, produced primarily in China, have gotten extra environment friendly and cheaper, making it more durable to compete in opposition to them with refurbished fashions.
Oudsandji acknowledged that testing and refurbishing outdated batteries “is extra complicated” than merely shopping for new ones.
“However the massive benefit is that it’s extra sustainable,” he mentioned. “It’s cheaper and permits us to create a round financial system, thus making certain Europe’s independence in useful resource provide.”
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