Waymo's Thousands of Retired Robotaxi Batteries Will Now Store Power for California and Texas

Imagine a self-driving car, a robotaxi, that has cruised thousands of miles, carrying passengers through city streets. Now imagine the powerful battery that made it go, no longer quite strong enough for the demanding life of a robotaxi, but still perfectly capable of a new job. That is exactly what Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company, just announced will happen.

Waymo has partnered with a company called B2U to take these retired robotaxi batteries and put them to work for electricity grids in California and Texas. Instead of heading straight to a recycling plant, these batteries will now store energy for homes and businesses. This move helps Waymo figure out what to do with the growing number of batteries from its vast fleet of self-driving cars.

The partnership aims to deploy hundreds of megawatts of storage capacity. To put that in perspective, a few hundred megawatts can power tens of thousands of homes, depending on consumption. It is a big step towards a more sustainable future for electric vehicles and the power grid.

This development addresses a growing question within the electric vehicle industry: what happens to all these batteries once they are no longer suitable for cars. Waymo currently operates thousands of robotaxis, mostly Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs, with plans to add more vans from Chinese automaker Zeekr. Each of these vehicles contains a large battery, and over time, these batteries naturally degrade, losing some of their capacity.

The key players here are Waymo, a leader in autonomous driving, and B2U, a company focused specifically on repurposing batteries for secondary uses. This approach differs from immediate recycling, which is another important part of the battery lifecycle. This "second-life" strategy allows batteries to continue providing value, extending their usefulness before they eventually need to be broken down for materials.

This effort is part of a larger trend. Other companies, including Redwood Materials, which was founded by a former Tesla executive and has backing from Waymo’s parent company Alphabet, are also exploring second-life battery options. The goal is to create a more circular economy where resources are used as long as possible.

For everyday people, this news means a step toward a more reliable and environmentally friendly power supply. California and Texas, in particular, are regions with a high need for energy storage due to their large populations, growing adoption of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, and sometimes strained grids. Using these repurposed batteries can help store excess energy generated from renewables during sunny or windy periods. This stored energy can then be released during peak demand or when renewable generation dips, reducing the risk of blackouts.

On a larger scale, this partnership highlights a critical shift in how we think about electric vehicle technology. It is not just about producing green cars; it is also about managing their entire lifecycle responsibly. Maximizing the lifespan of these valuable battery components reduces waste and lessens the demand for new raw materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which have significant environmental and ethical concerns tied to their mining. It contributes to making the entire electric vehicle ecosystem greener.

While giving batteries a second life is beneficial, it is also important to consider the long-term plan. Companies like B2U specialize in assessing the health and safety of these repurposed batteries to ensure they operate reliably and securely in their new roles. After their second life on the grid, these batteries will eventually need to be recycled to recover their valuable materials. This two-step process, use then recycle, is an ideal way to extract maximum value from every battery.

Looking ahead, we should watch to see how quickly Waymo and B2U can deploy these hundreds of megawatts of storage and what impact they have on the local grids. We can also expect more robotaxi and electric vehicle companies to announce similar partnerships as the number of retired EV batteries continues to grow. The exact timeline for deployment, how many batteries will be involved, and which specific locations will benefit are details that will unfold over time.

Do you think all electric vehicle batteries should be repurposed for grid storage before they are recycled, or are there situations where direct recycling makes more sense? How do you feel about your electricity potentially being stored in a battery that once powered a self-driving car?

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Filed under: Waymo, BatteryStorage, ElectricVehicles, CircularEconomy, RenewableEnergy