🔋 EV batteries' second act

Plus: Google's ChatGPT rival | Tuesday, February 07, 2023

Open in app View in browser     Axios What's Next By Alex Fitzpatrick, Jennifer A. Kingson and Joann Muller · Feb 07, 2023 The electric car boom means we'll soon be awash in used EV batteries — but even if they're no longer powering cars, they can still be useful in other ways, Alex reports today. Today's newsletter is 788 words ... 3 minutes.     1 big thing: A second life for EV batteries B2U Storage Solutions' Sierra facility in Lancaster, Calif. Photo courtesy of B2U Storage Solutions   A California energy startup has turned more than a thousand electric vehicle (EV) batteries into solar power storage capsules, Alex Fitzpatrick reports, in an intriguing effort to prove out an alternative to traditional recycling. Why it matters: Electric cars are cleaner than their gas-guzzling counterparts, but their batteries extract a significant ecological toll in the form of mining and manufacturing. Repurposing old EV batteries can maximize their lifetime use, thus squeezing more benefit out of each battery made. Energy storage, meanwhile, can help alleviate solar energy's intermittency problem — meaning, batteries can store solar power to be used when the sun isn't shining. Driving the news: B2U Storage Solutions' Sierra facility has reached 25MWh of solar storage capacity using second-life EV batteries from Honda and Nissan, the company announced Tuesday. During the day, the Lancaster, Calif. facility's batteries are charged up by nearby solar panels. The company then sells power back to the grid at night, when the rates for solar power are higher. The facility generated more than $1 million in revenue last year, the company says. The intrigue: B2U's big breakthrough is a proprietary plug-and-play technology that uses battery packs' existing management systems. That, says co-founder and CEO Freeman Hall, "virtually eliminates the repurposing costs" and makes the company's tech "a very pragmatic operation as we go forward." What they're saying: Repurposed EV batteries work well for solar storage, in part because the job is much less stressful compared to powering a car, says Hall. "The current we're applying isn't even a tenth of what they're rated for, and we don't push them all the way to the top end or the bottom end in terms of their rated voltage levels." That should translate into a long second lifespan. Reality check: 25MWh isn't huge — the world's biggest solar storage facilities advertise hundreds of MWh. Yes, but: The point of B2U's Sierra facility is simply to demonstrate that second-life EV batteries can be used as solar storage at worthwhile scale. "As we have that track record laid out over time, get that cycle history, get that dataset, demonstrate effectiveness, then we're in a better position to scale as the number of batteries going forward expands," Hall says. Meanwhile: Battery recycling firms, such as Redwood Materials and Lithion, are also gaining steam. What we're watching: Whether other use cases crop up. Car manufacturers may explore similar technology to help decarbonize their production lines, while airports and airlines are also interested in small-scale onsite energy storage, as Joann Muller has reported. What's next: As early EV owners upgrade to newer models, the available supply of used batteries is expected to skyrocket — and many could be turned into alternative energy storage solutions. Share this story.     2. Google's ChatGPT rival A sample of how LaMDA results will start showing up in Google Search. Image: Google   Google has announced several efforts to power search and other products using generative AI systems — including Bard, a conversational system conceptually similar to ChatGPT, Axios' Ina Fried reports. Between the lines: Google has long been working on such systems, but faces newfound pressure to show progress amid all the attention on OpenAI's popular ChatGPT and similar projects. Details: Google laid out three AI projects in a blog post from CEO Sundar Pichai. Bard, the conversational assistant based on Google's machine learning language model LaMDA, is starting limited external testing. The company is previewing how it plans to integrate LaMDA into search results, including by using the system to help offer a narrative response to queries lacking one clear answer. Google says it is developing technology that will let others plug into its language models. Read the rest.     A message from Axios A data-driven guide to more effective communications     There are dozens of ways to deliver the essential communications your stakeholders need, but are you choosing strategies to help you do it efficiently, effectively, and profitably? We surveyed over 500 leaders and 1,000 employees to understand what works and what doesn't. Sign up to discover what we found.     3. Washington turns hostile on crypto Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   A year ago, crypto successfully scraped and scrapped to get a foot in the door in Washington. But in the wake of crypto's winter and FTX's spectacular collapse, that door has now slammed shut, Axios' Brady Dale reports. Why it matters: Gaining legitimacy in Washington has been an essential part of the industry's push into the mainstream. But a series of recent announcements from the Biden administration suggest there's a crackdown ahead. Driving the news: Over the last two weeks, government officials repeatedly gave crypto the cold shoulder. First, a crypto-friendly bank was denied its request to join the Federal Reserve system. The bank, Custodia — which believed it did everything by the book — was blindsided. The Fed also warned every other bank that they need to ask permission before engaging in crypto activity — and it doesn't sound like any will get the nod. And the White House recently issued a big-picture statement essentially chasing Congress off the idea of passing any crypto bills this year. The bottom line: The Biden administration's latest moves suggest that it's done studying crypto, and it's come to a conclusion: We don't like it. Read the rest.     A message from Axios A reseach-based guide to more effective communications     There are dozens of ways to deliver the essential communications your stakeholders need, but are you choosing strategies to help you do it efficiently, effectively, and profitably? We surveyed over 500 leaders and 1,000 employees to understand what works and what doesn't. Sign up to discover what we found.   Big thanks to What's Next copy editor Amy Stern. Was this email forwarded to you? Get your daily dose of What's Next by signing up here for our free newsletter. Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. 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