Skip to main content

EVgo adds second-life batteries to fast-charging system

EVgo has added second-life BMW i3 batteries to its Union City fast-charging station in California to store energy during peak solar hours and reduce strain on the grid. This energy is then used to deliver a fast charge to EVgo customers’ electric vehicles during periods of high demand. The second-life battery system integrates two BMW i3 battery packs into a single housing. Evgo says each battery pack has a capacity of 22 kWh which combines with a 30 kW inverter to offer a 30 kW/44 kWh energy storag
July 18, 2018 Read time: 1 min
EVgo has added second-life BMW i3 batteries to its Union City fast-charging station in California to store energy during peak solar hours and reduce strain on the grid. This energy is then used to deliver a fast charge to EVgo customers’ electric vehicles during periods of high demand.


The second-life battery system integrates two BMW i3 battery packs into a single housing.

Evgo says each battery pack has a capacity of 22 kWh which combines with a 30 kW inverter to offer a 30 kW/44 kWh energy storage system.

Princeton Power Systems provided the inverter hardware and integrated it with the battery packs. Meanwhile, technology company Kisensum developed software controls for the battery system and managed software integration.

The EVgo Union City site began operating earlier this summer and currently has two 50 kW DC fast chargers.

Related Content

  • At-home charging for new Fiat 500e
    August 22, 2013
    Fiat has selected AeroVironment as its preferred provider of home charging stations and installations for its all-electric Fiat 500e. The 2013 Fiat 500e features a 24-kWh Lithium-ion battery that will allow drivers to travel an estimated 108 miles and uses an industry-standard SAE J1772 recharge connector. The 240-volt refuelling station will charge the car in four hours or less versus the approximate twenty hours required using a standard 120-volt charging cable. AeroVironment’s UL-listed station can
  • European fast charger project launched
    December 18, 2014
    The launch of the European Ten-T European Long-Distance Electric Clean Transport Road Infrastructure Corridor (Electric) which is co-funded by the EU and supports the installation of a corridor of high-quality fast chargers along key European motorways until the end of 2015, aims to accelerate electric vehicle uptake in the involved member states. Its focus is on interoperability, sustainable infrastructure setup and network planning and infrastructure deployment. The aim of the project is be to create a
  • Phoenix rises to the Smart City challenge
    December 10, 2015
    Andrew Bardin Williams looks at the City of Phoenix where voters backed a $30bn plan to revamp its transportation network to cultivate a more connected community. According to a Land Use Institute study, half of all Americans and even more millennials (63%) would like to live in a place where they do not need to use a car very often. The City of Phoenix is putting in place plans to revamp its urban development and transportation policies to meet these changing quality of life perceptions.
  • Counting the environmental costs of ITS deployment
    October 29, 2015
    David Crawford looks at the latest thinking about calculating the benefits associated with the environmental side of ITS schemes. The penny is dropping that some environmental costs “are being shifted outside the traditional bounds of evaluation methods” for ITS-based road transport projects, according to researchers at the UK University of Leeds’ Institute for Transport Studies.