What will we do with used electric vehicle batteries when they reach the end of their life cycles? The solution in Japan is to collect the old EV batteries and put them back to work as a power storage system. Quite genius!

The Sumitomo Corporation in Japan, in cooperation with Nissan have built a facility on Yume-shima Island, Osaka and will begin operations this month. They will use old lithium-ion EV batteries to store power from a nearby solar farm.

The Ministry of the Environment of Japan chose this project as the model for its “verification of the battery storage control to promote renewable energy” for 2013.

Sumitomo is looking for other partners that could benefit from their system, as well as working on other applications for this technology.

Via Inhabitat