As development of our 16 Blade advanced battery platform for the Nissan LEAF continues, one question the pops up somewhat frequently is: what are we planning to do with the old battery modules?

The short answer is that they find their way into stationary battery energy storage systems (BESS). While we’re staying focused on the primary automotive application rather than moving into the BESS space, we have been developing relationships and assisting other companies who are looking to establish themselves in this space. As 16 Blade production ramps up, we are going to need a few key customers that we can rely on to take the continuous supply of old modules that we’re pulling out of old low state-of-health battery packs. We would also like to see these modules quickly put to good use rather than sitting around doing nothing for long periods of time while waiting for a new home. 

When we build a new 16 Blade pack we re-use several serviceable parts from the old pack   including the entire battery pack enclosure. Therefore, any of our BESS customers need to repackage these modules in some way and we also need an efficient way of packaging these for transportation even if that is as simple as a wooden pallet or crate. In the process of exploring options, we think we have come up with a pretty cool solution that we would like to share with anyone who can make use of it.

Noticing the common trend of needing one extra module to re-package 49 Leaf modules into a 14P14S stack suitable for use with 48V hybrid solar inverters, we initially explored how to do this as nicely as possible. That led to this prototype using mounting hardware designed in house: