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BMW
Earlier this summer , BMW announced it would be entering the increasingly interconnected EV and energy storage market . The automaker has partnered with another German company , Beck automation , to use the battery packs for its i3 electric vehicles as home energy storage units .
BMW claims that its solution is the first residential energy storage system to use a complete EV battery , where competitors use parts or pieces of vehicle batteries to achieve similar ends . The system is available in 22kWh or 33kWh incarnations .
The i3 batteries supplied may be either new or ‘ second life ’ units which have outlived their usefulness in the vehicles themselves . Theoretically , this will also extend the value of the unit for car owners . BMW says its system could independently power a home for up to 24 hours .
26 September 2016