Recently, General Motors and ABB recently announced the signing of a non-exclusive cooperation agreement. According to the agreement, the two parties will jointly conduct research and development cooperation to develop new uses for electric vehicle batteries whose end-of-life has expired.

The project will mainly explore the possibility of using lithium battery packs scrapped on the GM Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle to build economical energy storage equipment. When the conventional power system is upgraded to a smart grid, the energy storage system can improve the efficiency of the entire power system.

Bazmi Husain, ABB Smart Grid Project Manager, said: "Future smart grids will access a greater proportion of renewable energy, and will also provide electricity for a large number of electric vehicle facilities. Both applications require more energy storage solutions. We attach great importance to exploring the secondary use of electric vehicle batteries, which not only helps to increase the energy storage capacity needed for smart grid applications but also bring long-term economic and environmental benefits."

The electric energy storage capacity of Volt's electric vehicles is still considerable after reaching the on-board life. "In view of this, we have teamed up with ABB to make the batteries of Volt electric vehicles possible to create a wider range of environmental benefits in areas other than vehicles," said Micky Bly, executive director of electronic systems business at General Motors. Micky Bly announced a cooperation project with ABB at the recent “Electric Vehicle Battery Technology Conference” in Troy, Michigan, USA. He said: "Our cooperation with ABB will contribute to the development of battery life cycle optimization solutions for Volt models."

Economically viable power storage is a key technology that can promote the development of smart grids. It can promote the popularization of a range of applications, including: managing intermittent wind and solar energy resources, reducing peak demand for electricity, providing backup energy, and The low-cost energy stored when the load is low is used to supply peak loads.