General Motors and ABB Inc. (NYSE: ABB) repackaged five used Chevrolet Volt batteries into a modular unit capable of providing 25 kW of stored power.

The demonstration was made during GM’s Electrification Experience. It was run in a so called “remote power back-up” mode where all of the power for the facility came from the batteries through ABB’s Energy Storage Inverter System.

“GM’s battery development extends throughout the entire life of the battery, including secondary use,” said Pablo Valencia, GM senior manager of battery lifecycle management. "In many cases, when an EV battery has reached the end of its life in an automotive application, only 30 percent or less of its life has been used. This leaves a tremendous amount of life that can be applied to other applications like powering a structure before the battery is recycled.”

These functions, along with frequency regulation on electric distribution systems, could someday be used by utilities to reduce cost to customers, improve the quality of power delivery and provide backup power when electricity is out. These applications are referred to as community energy storage to distinguish them from substation-size energy storage projects.

ABB’s research center in Raleigh, N.C., conducted the research and development, and ABB’s Medium Voltage business unit in Lake Mary, Fla., is managing the proof-of-concept testing, market research and product development.

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