Renault announces electric car battery recycling scheme

Renault has announced a new recycling scheme aimed at reusing batteries from old electric vehicles to power home electrical storage systems.

A trial of the system in partnership with electric storage firm Powervault will be held next month. AutoExpress reports it will place "50 energy storage units powered by second hand electric car batteries in households with solar panels".

"The tests will explore how well the old batteries perform," adds the magazine, as well as evaluate whether the recycled units are "realistic enough for a mass market roll-out."

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It is hoped the scheme will double the life of car batteries and reduce the cost of home electricity storage systems by around 30 per cent.

According to Autocar, the battery packs allow customers "to store energy" generated by their solar panels and charge the units "at off-peak grid times".

Users can use electricity collected by their solar panels at times "when the cost may be higher to use electricity straight from the grid", the mag adds.

Renault claims recycling the batteries could add an additional ten years to their lifespans, which currently average eight to ten years in electric vehicles.

The scheme follows Mercedes' announcement of a rival to Tesla's Powerwall 2 home battery storage, which is due to go on sale to residents in California later this year.

The system costs $13,000 (£10,000) "fully installed", reports ArsTechnica, including "the battery, an inverter, professional installation, permitting, and a consultation… to design the system".