Daimler Bringing Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage To The US

Daimler has established a subsidiary by the name of Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas to facilitate its entry into the North American energy storage market, according to a new press release from the company.

The move comes only a year after Daimler founded Mercedes-Benz Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary focused on the sale and development of stationary energy storage products.

Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas will be, as the name implies, handling all of Daimler’s commercial, residential, and utility-scale energy storage product sales in North America. The CEO of the new organization is US solar energy industry persona Boris von Bormann.

The press release provides some background: “The energy storage concept devised by Daimler Business Innovation provides for a variety of applications. The scalability of the systems allow for industrial application of lithium-ion batteries for network stabilization and smoothing of peak shaving for energy producers, as well as private households, for example in conjunction with photovoltaic installations. Developed for the demanding use in vehicles, the technology in Mercedes-Benz energy storage units meets the highest safety and quality requirements. The products are based on the same technology that Daimler has already used thousandfold in electric and hybrid vehicles since 2012.”

Current plans are reportedly for Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas, working in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, to bring its first energy storage offerings to the market in the US in early 2017. This initial offering will be a modular residential energy storage product.

Each of these battery modules will possess an energy capacity of 2.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh), with combinations totaling up to 20 kWh being a possibility.

Notably, these products will be sold through “various channel partners,” not directly.

Following this first offering, the firm will be bringing larger energy storage systems to market for use primarily in commercial and industrial applications, estimated for sometime later in 2017.

Top two images via Daimler, third on by Kyle Field