EDENenergy, a Germany-based developer of industrial BESS built from second-life batteries, has delivered its first 70 kWh storage system to a customer in mid-October 2026. The Freiburg company was founded by Florian Bierwirth, Daniel Seeger and Hannes Kurzmann, all of whom had worked in the Power Electronics Department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.

That first system has been assembled from 112 second-life e-scooter batteries, each of which was tested in an initial screening before it was interconnected. For now, they are being bought from large suppliers, such as e-bike and e-scooter fleet operators, so that enough batteries of the same type are available. Different types of batteries are later to be combined through the power electronics developed at Fraunhofer ISE, although the connector interfaces, the battery management system and the communication protocols will have to be adapted for each new battery.

The batteries themselves have proved to be in better condition than the company had expected. EDENenergy had estimated a remaining capacity, or State of Health, of 80% for second-life batteries, but according to Fraunhofer ISE, the first 350 batteries that were tested had a remaining capacity that was in some cases well over 90%. In a stationary system, they are exposed to fewer vibrations and temperature fluctuations than in their first life. Each module is monitored remotely and is replaced on its own at the end of its service life, even while the system is in operation. The company therefore expects the system to hold a constant 70 kWh after 10 years, whereas conventional manufacturers typically guarantee only 80% of the original capacity.

The first customers are expected to be medium-sized companies in the region that have a photovoltaic system but do not yet have storage, and municipal utilities could also use the systems to optimise self-consumption, to smooth peak loads or for electricity trading. As its next step, EDENenergy is planning to raise the storage capacity to up to 300 kWh, and it is looking for further pilot customers among regional businesses, which can receive 50% funding for a system through the Mittelstand trifft Start-ups state grant program.

The supply of such batteries is large. In Germany alone, about one million batteries from e-bikes and scooters are discarded early every year, although many of them still retain a large part of their capacity. Second-life use has already been shown with car batteries, and in September, B2U Storage Solutions and LG Energy Solution agreed to repurpose batteries for grid-scale BESS in the United States.