B2U Brings Second-Life Storage to Texas
One exciting development in the world of clean energy is taking shape just outside San Antonio, Texas. B2U Storage Solutions, a company that’s quietly been testing a big idea in California, has now broken ground on a 100-megawatt-hour energy storage project in Bexar County, relying entirely by used electric vehicle batteries.
This isn’t a hypothetical solution or futuristic vision. It’s a working model, already tested in California, that’s now being brought to scale in the heart of Texas. B2U began with a modest but groundbreaking installation in Lancaster, California, using retired Nissan Leaf battery packs. That project, which started with only about 25 to 28 megawatt-hours of capacity, demonstrated that old EV batteries could reliably store solar energy and release it into the grid when demand (and prices) spike in the evening. It wasn’t just a science experiment. It made money, and it saved money for power customers while enhancing grid reliability.
That early success helped pave the way for what B2U is now doing in Texas, a a four-site portfolio that will collectively provide 100 megawatt-hours of critical and needed energy storage. These systems will participate in ERCOT’s energy markets, helping reduce the strain on Texas’ growing grid. Each site is designed for rapid permitting and grid connection, sited near areas where transmission constraints are most severe to help alleviate congestion.
What makes B2U’s approach unique isn’t just that they’re reusing electric vehicle batteries, it’s how they do it. Rather than dismantling the batteries and reassembling their cells into new enclosures, B2U keeps the packs intact and manages them with their proprietary software platform. That means faster deployment, lower cost, and less waste.
The economics are hard to ignore: these second-life battery systems are 30 to 40 percent less expensive than equivalent systems using brand-new batteries, without sacrificing performance.
Some of B2U’s oldest installations have already logged over 2,000 cycles, charging and discharging every day for years, with minimal maintenance. Fewer than 1 percent of battery modules have needed replacement. The systems are reliable, durable, and already participating in the same markets as other storage systems.
B2U is not alone in this space. Other companies are now entering the second-life battery market as well. Element Energy recently brought a 53-megawatt-hour installation online in West Texas. Redwood Materials, known for battery recycling, just deployed a massive 63-megawatt-hour storage system made of used batteries in Nevada, powering a large data center. These projects all point to the same conclusion: second-life batteries aren’t a fringe idea anymore. They’re commercially viable, cost-effective, and ready to scale.
This matters. As EV adoption continues to grow, so too will the supply of used battery packs. If we don’t find ways to reuse them, we’ll miss a huge opportunity. Second-life battery storage gives us a powerful, scalable, and affordable solution. It’s circular economy thinking at grid scale.
Texas is the perfect place to prove what second-life storage can do. The state’s fast-growing demand, extreme weather, and transmission bottlenecks create a massive need for flexible storage. Companies like B2U are stepping into that gap with a tested model and a bold expansion where yesterday’s car batteries help power tomorrow’s clean energy future.