Waymo's used robotaxi batteries are getting a second life as stationary grid backup storage in California and Texas.
Batteries pulled from retired Waymo vehicles will be repurposed for energy storage projects in two of the country's largest electricity markets. The arrangement applies a well-established concept, second-life battery programs, to a fleet operating at a scale most automakers haven't matched. Waymo runs one of the largest autonomous vehicle fleets in the US, which means it generates used battery packs on a predictable cycle and at meaningful volume. Details on the specific project operators and total storage capacity were not disclosed.
Grid storage is expensive to build from scratch, and sourcing it from retired vehicle batteries rather than manufacturing new cells cuts costs while diverting material from landfills. California and Texas face different but pressing grid challenges: California manages renewable intermittency, while Texas runs an isolated grid whose fragility was badly exposed by the 2021 winter storm. Cheap, redeployed batteries address both problems without requiring a new factory.
Second-life battery programs have been discussed since at least the Nissan Leaf era, but most pilots stayed small. Waymo's fleet-scale supply of uniform packs could finally provide the volume advantage that makes the economics work where earlier efforts stalled.