BMW has announced a new energy storage solution, which integrates the battery pack found in the BMW i3.
A supposed first for the automotive world (although Tesla has a similar system in its Powerwall), the initiative aims to provide users with a lower energy cost overall and a secure backup plan should power outages occur. It does this by transferring power from the vehicle to the “second life” battery pack connected to the home’s power grid.
The project was revealed at this year’s Electric Vehicle Symposium & Exhibition 29 and uses a re-purposed battery pack from the i3. It can be charged during the day, taking advantage of the energy that may otherwise be under-utilised while home-owners are typically away, to support the overall energy efficiency of their house.
BMW says the battery storage system, with its 22 kWh or 33kWh capacity, is ideally suited to operate a variety of appliances and entertainment devices for up to 24 hours on its own. This system also makes use of real-time readings to provide users with an optimal energy supply and demand.
Included in this system will be a voltage converter and power electronics to manage the energy flow between renewable energy sources, the house interface and the lithium-ion high-voltage battery from the BMW i3. This system is extremely small and designed fit in storage spaces found at home. It can effectively be thought of as an individual power grid for the house.
There is no word on how much this system will cost or when it will be released to the public as yet, but it seems it will be available to i3 owners only (none of the e-drive variants were mentioned in the press release, most likely due to their significantly smaller battery packs not having the capacity to run such a system).
