Hyundai Motor Group, LG Energy Solution, Hyundai Engineering and Wonik PNE have launched a pilot using retired electric-vehicle batteries to power fast-charging stations. The five participating companies — Hyundai Motor, Kia, LG Energy Solution, Hyundai Engineering and Wonik PNE — are testing a 200-kilowatt-hour UBESS using battery packs from vehicles built on Hyundai Motor Group's E-GMP platform. Directly connected to EV fast chargers, the system stores electricity during low-demand, lower-rate periods and uses it for charging when demand and rates are higher. The model is intended to reduce peak power consumption, lower charging-station operating costs and extend the economic life of used batteries. Hyundai Motor Group describes the pilot, launched Thursday at Wonik PNE's facility in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, as South Korea's first project to directly link used Hyundai Motor Group EV batteries with fast-charging infrastructure. The companies will test control algorithms, safety, reliability, battery performance retention, charging-service quality and operating efficiency while assessing the commercial feasibility of a battery circular-economy model. Hyundai Motor Group previously operated a 2-megawatt-hour UBESS linked to solar generation at its Ulsan plant and built a 300-kilowatt-hour facility at OCI's Gongju plant.