European Commission OKs Enel X battery projects

The company has received the go-ahead for three projects in the second round of the European Union’s “Important Project of Common European Interest,” or IPCEI.

Specifically, these involve applications for charging electric vehicles; for large stationary energy storage systems; and for the sustainable end-of-life management of lithium batteries.

The first project involves High Power Charging for electric vehicles. Specifically, a  high power battery charger is a technology that aims to give an electric vehicle, or EV, the energy needed for several hundred kilometers with a charging time of just minutes. The Enel X project is focused on developing 350kW charging with integrated battery storage, which will be also able to supply services to the grid (as a comparison, a home charger typically deliver electricity at 7kW, while ultra-fast chargers are usually beyond 150kW). This project will use so-called second-life batteries for some  pilot sites, a move that supports sustainability and the principles that lie behind circular economy approach.

 

As the popularity and desire for EVs soar, what to do with spent vehicle batteries is a priority concern. Powering a car or truck is tough on the battery. Extreme operating temperatures, hundreds of partial cycles a year, and varying discharge rates, all conspire to shorten a battery's useful life. 

It is estimated that by 2030 some 60,000 tons/year of vehicle batteries will need to be disposed of in Italy alone. However, while no longer suitable for use in a vehicle, second-life batteries can still be employed in less-demanding applications, such as stationary energy storage.

 

The project also aims to support the decarbonization of transport through the greater penetration of e-mobility, and with it of renewables, by facilitating the integration of electric vehicles into the grid. It will also minimize the time it takes to set up charging stations, and take advantage of the falling price of energy storage by improving the economics performance of the charging sites involved.

A second project deals with optimization software targeted at grid-scale battery storage systems. Optimization software is used to schedule a series of processes so as to prioritize reaching a specific goal, for example maximizing returns, the use of renewable inputs, and so on. The software, which will also develop machine-learning models for the use of second-life batteries, will ensure the plants are of the ideal size and that the batteries use the maximum amount of renewable energy. The third project focuses on recycling both vehicle and large stationary energy storage batteries once they are no longer useful. This project is taking place together with companies and organizations including ENEA, Italy’s public research body, and MIDAC, a major battery manufacturer. MIDAC will look at developing industrial applications in the context of the project, which aims to develop and test solutions in the fields of logistics, transportation and storage, as well as the automation of disassembly processes.

Enel X is a member of the European Battery Alliance, founded in 2017 on the initiative of the European Commission, together with EU country governments, the European Investment Bank and industrial stakeholders. In 2020, Enel X took part in the first Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on batteries, a sector that the European Commission sees as strategic. The first IPCEI saw the participation of 17 companies, including Enel X; at the second IPCEI, in 2021, 42 companies were involved - again, including Enel X. In March 2023, Enel X announced its participation in the third IPCEI project, this time in partnership with Italian electricity storage systems company MIDAC as well as with other Italian and European companies and research institutes, including ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development).

 

In the context of this third IPCEI, Enel X and MIDAC will conduct R&D activities for the construction of Italy's first major lithium battery recycling facility for batteries used in electric vehicles as well as in industrial and stationary systems; once built, the facility will be able to transform spent battery packs back into raw materials.

More specifically, Enel X will be in charge of researching and developing cutting-edge technology that enables both automatic dismantling of lithium batteries and the processes for their recycling. Meanwhile, MIDAC - an Italian manufacturing company specialized in storage systems for the automotive, stationary battery and industrial traction battery industries - will be developing the entire lithium recycling process, at first on a pilot scale and then by building an industrial plant with an annual capacity of at least 10,000 tons. It is estimated that in Europe around 200,000 tons of lithium batteries will have to be recycled by 2030. Therefore, by sustaining efforts to develop a European lithium supply chain that is more circular, this project will help make the energy transition more sustainable, leading to less mineral extraction while helping reduce the industry's costs and environmental impacts.

 

With its participation in this third IPCEI, Enel X is helping lay the foundations for a new, sustainable and competitive battery industry that is able to support the development and growth of e-mobility while showing that it is at the forefront of energy circularity and the energy transition.