B2U launches second second-life battery project in Texas — SkimNews
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- B2U Storage Solutions commissioned its 28-MWh Bexar Martinez battery energy storage project in CPS Energy territory near San Antonio, its second commercial-operations "second-life" EV battery installation in ERCOT and one of more than 100 MWh of operational second-life storage it has deployed across Texas and California.
- Bexar Martinez is rated around 10 MW — like B2U's first ERCOT project — qualifying it for faster energization under ERCOT's small-generator interconnection process; each of the two Texas projects uses more than 700 repurposed EV batteries.
- B2U CEO Freeman Hall told Utility Dive the company has "secured significant volumes of battery capacity suitable for repurposing" and expects second-life supply to reach "many GWh annually" even as EV sales have slowed since the federal purchase credit expired in September.
- B2U announced a June supply agreement with Waymo to repurpose batteries from the autonomous mobility company's aging fleet, which Hall said could deliver "hundreds of megawatts of storage capacity" over time.
- B2U is developing several more "Texas 10" ERCOT projects that could begin construction this year and deliver grid services in 2027; its total pipeline exceeds 1,000 MWh and it plans to deploy more than 50 MWh in ERCOT over the next six months.
- Hall said B2U's installed costs run as much as 40% lower than "competing BESS solutions" and that the projects qualify for the Section 48(e) investment tax credit's domestic content bonus adder, while Geotab's 2024 data showed average EV batteries retain about 91% capacity after five years at 1.8% annual degradation.
Why it matters: With installed costs up to 40% lower than competing battery storage and qualification for the Section 48(e) domestic-content tax credit adder, second-life EV storage is becoming a commercially credible grid resource in ERCOT — where B2U plans more than 50 MWh of new deployments in six months and a 1,000+ MWh pipeline — backed by a Waymo battery supply deal that could yield hundreds of megawatts of repurposed capacity over time.
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