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

  • Rethink required to reduce road transport’s environmental impact
    March 15, 2016
    Against a background of a renewed focus on limiting the rise in average temperatures, Colin Sowman looks at a project that is taking a holistic approach to the environmental impact and safety of road transport. At the COP21 meeting in Paris last December, almost 200 nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep the rise in global temperatures to 2°C) compared with pre-industrial levels. The transportation sector is a major contributor to the production of CO2, one of the main green
    Read More
  • Volkswagen to Test E-Golf BEV in the US
    April 13, 2012
    Volkswagen of America is this month starting a pilot scheme to test 20 prototype E-Golf battery electric vehicles (BEVs) over a nine-month period in the US in Detroit Metro, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. markets. Twelve of the E-Golf BEVs, will be allocated to selected Volkswagen employees during the time period. By studying E-Golf use across multiple geographical regions, Volkswagen will monitor the effect of climate conditions, driving patterns, and energy performance; the data and insights gained du
    Read More
  • Camera technology a flexible and cost-effective option
    June 7, 2012
    Perceptions of machine vision being an expensive solution are being challenged by developments in both core technologies and ancillaries. Here, Jason Barnes and David Crawford look at the latest developments in the sector. A notable aspect of machine vision is the flexibility it offers in terms of how and how much data is passed around a network. With smart cameras, processing capabilities at the front end mean that only that which is valid need be communicated back to a central processor of any descripti
    Read More
  • Self-driving shared vehicles ‘could take most cars off city streets’
    May 1, 2015
    Fleets of TaxiBots and AutoVots could deliver today’s mobility with significantly fewer cars, says a new study. Self-driving shared cars could make 90 per cent of conventional cars in mid-sized cities superfluous, according to the study published by the International Transport Forum at the OECD. Even during peak hours, only one third of the current number of cars would be needed to provide the same number of trips as today. ITF researchers used actual transport data from Lisbon, Portugal, to model the
    Read More

Highlighted Content