Factor This This Week in Cleantech (02/20/2026) - Putting retired EV batteries back to work
Feb 23, 2026
Arcelia Martin, reporter for Inside Climate News covering energy and climate, explains how retired EV batteries are being repurposed to support Texas’s grid. She talks about the B2U project reusing batteries as storage. Conversations cover scalability, tradeoffs between reuse and recycling, performance and maintenance, and broader grid and material impacts.
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Cost Effective Second Life Batteries For ERCOT
- B2U Storage Solutions repurposes EV packs once they reach ~80% state of health for grid storage in ERCOT.
- Using packs 'as they come' avoids expensive remanufacturing and makes second-life economics viable, per Arcelia Martin's reporting.
UC San Diego Demo With Retired Tesla Packs
- Paul Gerke visited UC San Diego's DER Connect Lab and saw retired Tesla packs housed in shipping containers for testing.
- The demo showed real-world pilot setups that validate practical reuse paths beyond lab theory.
Second Life Market Is Early And Debated
- Few US companies have moved beyond pilots into repurposing EV batteries, with Redwood and Element Energy among early entrants.
- Scalability remains debated: reuse delays recycling but depends on repurposing costs and exported EV markets.