When used batteries are removed from cars, most are recycled. However, Rome’s Fiumicino Airport is using 162 old car batteries to store electricity, as part of a project with Japanese company Nissan.

The project, called Pioneer, uses third- and fourth-generation batteries (30 and 40 kWh) taken from high-mileage vehicles and returned vehicles under warranty. The batteries are being requalified to meet high safety standards. Nissan predicts that these batteries will operate for the next six to seven years.

The Pioneer energy storage units are powered by a 55,000-panel solar farm, which produces up to 31 GWh of clean energy per year for the airport terminal. The total capacity of this energy storage system is 10 MWh, and Nissan has delivered the batteries with a total capacity of 2.1 MWh to system integrator Loccino, which is adapting and integrating them into Enel’s energy storage system.

This is not the first time Nissan has collaborated on such projects, showing that old batteries can still live on but in a different function.

Source: Fiumicino Airport