{"id":361859,"date":"2025-08-21T10:49:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T10:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/361859\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:49:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T10:49:32","slug":"german-firm-gives-second-life-to-used-ev-batteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/361859\/","title":{"rendered":"German firm gives ‘second life’ to used EV batteries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With around 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries.<\/p>\n

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Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it will help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables.<\/p>\n

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While wind turbines now dot Germany’s countryside and photovoltaic panels are found on many rooftops, he says the country still needs to build up battery storage capacity.<\/p>\n


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“We want to ensure European sovereignty in energy supply by enabling renewable energy production through storage,” Oudsandji, 29, told AFP.<\/p>\n

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“We can generate enormous amounts of electricity from solar and wind energy, then store it in a decentralised way all across Germany and distribute it,” he said.<\/p>\n

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“This means that the more renewable energy we use, the more storage capacity we deploy, the less we need fossil gas or oil.”<\/p>\n

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Inside the site, technicians receive used EV batteries and test them to determine their remaining lifespans.<\/p>\n

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Those still found to be in good condition are reconditioned for their “second life” and fitted inside cabinets the size of large refrigerators — effectively huge power banks for excess electricity.<\/p>\n

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Among the first customers is the discount supermarket chain Aldi Nord, which wants to store power from its rooftop solar panels for later use.<\/p>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n

Clean energy push<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Voltfang, founded in 2020 by three university engineering students, aims to produce enough systems by 2030 to store a capacity of one gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity per year, enough for 300 homes.<\/p>\n

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It is one of many small steps meant to help Germany’s decades-old “Energiewende”, or energy transition.<\/p>\n

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\"Workers<\/p>\n

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Workers assemble battery units at the production site of Voltfang, a developing and manufacturing battery storage producer, in Aachen, western Germany on August 19, 2025. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

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Last year, renewables covered nearly 60 percent of electricity produced in Germany, and the target is 80 percent by 2030.<\/p>\n

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One problem for solar and wind is what to do on days when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.<\/p>\n

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Such “dark lulls”, most common in winter, have at times forced Germany to temporarily import power produced by French nuclear reactors or Polish coal plants.<\/p>\n

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To guarantee a secure supply, conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government plans to build around 20 new gas-fired power plants by 2030.<\/p>\n

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The Greens and environmental groups have denounced this as a step backwards in German climate policy and fear the country will not meets its goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.<\/p>\n

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READ ALSO: Where can I dispose my old electronic devices in Germany<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n

Circular economy<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Europe’s battery sector is still nascent but expected to grow fast.<\/p>\n

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“In our opinion, small-scale distributed energy assets such as battery storage will play a major role to create efficient energy systems,” said Marc Sauthoff of the business consultancy Roland Berger.<\/p>\n

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The stationary storage market is growing exponentially in Germany: about six GWh of capacity were installed at end-2024, up from 2.5 GWh in 2022, he said.<\/p>\n

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Voltfang hopes to be profitable by next year, Oudsandji said, though he conceded there are hurdles.<\/p>\n

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For one thing, the supply of used EV batteries is still small, given that most vehicles have been on the road for only a few years.<\/p>\n

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Also, new batteries, produced mainly in China, are becoming more efficient and less expensive, making it harder to compete against them with refurbished models.<\/p>\n

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Oudsandji acknowledged that testing and refurbishing old batteries “is more complex” than simply buying new ones.<\/p>\n

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“But the big advantage is that it is more sustainable,” he said. “It is cheaper and allows us to create a circular economy, thus ensuring Europe’s independence in resource supply.”<\/p>\n

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By L\u00e9a PERNELLE<\/p>\n

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