Mercedes-Benz Energy and Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV) have announced a partnership for developing Second Life battery storage systems in China. As per the announcement, the two partners will jointly construct the first energy storage system, using the old batteries of electric vehicles (EVs), at their Beijing location.

The announcement is noteworthy because it essentially underscores a new partnership between German automaker Daimler and bigwig Chinese group BAIC --- Mercedes-Benz Energy is a Daimler subsidiary, while BJEV is a BAIC subsidiary. BAIC is a Daimler cooperation partner, and it acquired a 5% stake in the German company in July 2019. Daimler, meanwhile, has held a minority interest in BJEV since 2018.

In announcing the development partnership for second-life energy storage system, Mercedes-Benz Energy and BJEV said that they will build their energy storage systems by using BJEV’s old electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The details pertaining to the energy storage system, to be built in Beijing, have not been officially disclosed.

Nonetheless, going by the information released by the two partners, the potential for used EV batteries in terms of energy storage will be demonstrated by Mercedes-Benz engineers with the help of tests and simulations. The engineers will demonstrate how used EV batteries can effectively even out high fluctuations in Chinese grid systems, and support power-failure management.