ABB, maker of heavy-duty electrical equipment, will work with General Motors to develop secondary uses for electric car batteries.
ABB's portion of the work will be handled in its research center at N.C. State University's Centennial Campus, spokesman Bill Rose said.
The lithium ion batteries that will power the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf have an estimated life span of about a decade. Afterward, though the batteries are still able to hold an electric charge, over time they drain more quickly and become less efficient, requiring replacement with fresh batteries.
The spent electric batteries could supply the missing link in the nation's power grid by providing a system for storing power, a technology that has so far eluded scientists and the power industry.
ABB, with offices in Raleigh and Cary, makes power transmission and distribution equipment, such as substations and transmission lines, and software and hardware to manage electricity flowing through the power grid.
ABB moved its North American headquarters to Cary from Connecticut last year and employs about 775 people in North Carolina, including about 550 in the Triangle.
The joint research project between ABB and the Detroit maker of the Chevy Volt will look at ways to configure spent auto batteries so that they can store energy from solar farms and wind farms, said Sandeep Bala, an ABB research engineer in Raleigh.
The project will look at charging batteries at night, when the grid is awash in cheap, surplus power, and using that electricity during the day, when demand spikes and energy costs are at their highest.
As part of the project, ABB will build a storage device from lithium ion batteries and test it next year.
Staff writer John Murawski
