Poland – Solaris Bus & Coach SA of Bolechowo, Poland has joined a consortium including battery system manufacturer and supplier to Solaris, Impact Clean Power Technology S.A. of Pruszków, Poland and power generation and energy distributor, TAURON Polska Energia SA of Katowice to implement a project titled ‘Second Life ESS’ aimed at creating a prototype system to store electric energy based on used bus batteries. The project is being co-financed by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR) in Poland.    

In providing more details about the project, Łukasz Chełchowski, director of the office of development at Solaris, says: “Over time and because of their operation, batteries run down their capacity. A battery reaches its end-of-service in an electric bus once its capacity drops below 80% of its original {energy storage capability} value. However, it can still serve as an excellent form of electrical energy storage in stationary applications. Hence the idea for the second-life battery project, which we will implement in co-operation with TAURON and Impact.”