ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — Three of South Carolina's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will be involved in a nationwide project that has been awarded $10 million from the US Department of Energy. The Second life sMARt sysTems (SMART) project will work to solve the problem of the growing stockpile of electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries by finding ways to repurpose the batteries, giving them a second life with high value per kilowatt hour.
Smartville Inc. will coordinate the project, using the company's Smartville 360 energy storage systems across six locations in four states -- California, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. The Smartville 360 uses domestically sourced high quality tier-1 automotive lithium-ion batteries from retired electric vehicles. According to Smartville Inc, the systems will provide grid resiliency and backup power while simultaneously helping lower energy costs for senior centers, low-income multi-family affordable housing complexes and EV charging facilities in San Diego, Atlanta, New Orleans, Orangeburg and Denmark, S.C. In total, more than 7 MWh of battery capacity will be installed.