Used batteries from electric vehicles are put to good use by a new energy storage system in San Diego

At a nondescript office park in Mira Mesa sit a pair of nondescript cubes, adjacent to a nondescript library annex that houses old books, papers and other items from UC San Diego. But something different is happening. Inside each cube sits a collection of used electric vehicle batteries — one containing Tesla batteries and the other stocked with old batteries from Nissan Leafs. While these lithium-ion batteries once powered cars that are no longer on the road, they still have plenty of lifespan left in them. A local company with connections to the university has taken what would usually be discarded and found a novel way to reuse them. Mike Ferry, president of Smartville, Inc., points to the building’s roof. “You can’t see it, but there’s a huge rooftop solar array up there and that array overproduces (electricity) during the day,” Ferry said on a hot, sunny day last…

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