Power Electronics and Control for 2nd-Life Lithium EV Battery Pack Integration
Summary
SCH Number
2026100620
Public Agency
California Energy Commission
Document Title
Power Electronics and Control for 2nd-Life Lithium EV Battery Pack Integration
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
10/19/2026
Document Description
Amendment to grant agreement to change the recipient’s facility site (also the project facility site) and add a demonstration site to the project. This project will design, construct and demonstrate an innovative integrated power electronics / energy storage system to serve the grid-tied energy storage market. The system will be rated for 120kW (power) and 500kWh (energy) and use repurposed EV packs (2nd-life battery). The recipient will conduct a one-year technology demonstration that will directly benefit either a disadvantaged community (DAC) or a low-income community. The Energy Commission made CEQA findings pertaining to this project, including finding it was categorically exempt under 14 CCR 15301, when the project was originally adopted by the Commission at the Business Meeting held on May 12, 2021. The change in project facility site and the addition of a demonstration site does not change the applicability of the exemption under 14 CCR 15301.
Contact Information
Name
Benson Gilbert
Agency Name
California Energy Commission
Job Title
Commission Agreement Manager
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Address
Phone
Name
Antoni Tong
Agency Name
Smartville, Inc.
Job Title
Recipient Project Manager
Contact Types
Project Applicant / Parties Undertaking Project
Phone
Email
Location
Cities
La Jolla, Oceanside, Vista
Counties
San Diego
Regions
Southern California
Cross Streets
Multiple Locations
Other Location Info
1495 Poinsettia Avenue, Suite 146, Vista, 92081
130 Brooks St. Oceanside, 92054
9413 Voigt Dr, La Jolla, 92093
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15301
Reasons for Exemption
Cal. Code Regs. (CCR), Title 14, Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) provides that projects which consist of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, and which involve negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time of the lead agency's determination, are categorically exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act.
1. This project will design and build an innovative integrated power electronics / energy storage system to serve the energy storage market. The proposed tasks for this project include development and testing of a novel power conversion topology, integration of the power electronics with a battery energy storage system consisting of repurposed electric vehicle battery packs, and pilot testing of the integrated system at an existing facility in Vista, CA. Initial development, testing, and integration will take place at an existing, fully permitted, facility located in San Diego County. The location is within an Office and Light Manufacturing zone in the City of Vista.
2. The project demonstration is planned to be performed using the Modular Assembly of Batteries (MoAB) unit (a stationary unit located at a facility in Vista, CA) to charge a mobile Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) unit (built under a separate project, ARV-21-015), where the mobile BESS unit will be transported to a designated parking location on a paved parking lot. This will occur at the demonstration sites in either Oceanside, CA or La Jolla, CA. While at the demonstration site, the mobile BESS unit will provide free mobile charging for electric vehicles, until the BESS unit needs to recharge. When the mobile BESS unit needs to recharge, it will be transported back to the facility in Vista, CA so that it can be recharged by the MoAB unit. If the MoAB unit is also made to be mobile, it will be transported to the demonstration site, just like the mobile BESS units, and then transported back to the facility in Vista, CA to recharge. The required use permits and licenses (if applicable) have already been obtained for the demonstration sites from the City of Oceanside and from the University of California (San Diego campus), and will be renewed as required during the course of the demonstration. No installation is needed for the mobile BESS unit. The demonstration will not require installation, or grid interconnection, or construction at the demonstration sites in Oceanside, CA or La Jolla, CA. The existing parking lots will continue operations with negligible or no expansion of the existing use.
This project does not involve impacts on any particularly sensitive environment; does not involve any cumulative impacts of successive projects of the same type in the same place that might be considered significant; does not involve unusual circumstances that might have a significant effect on the environment; will not result in damage to scenic resources within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway; the project sites are not included on any list compiled pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5, and the project will not cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource. Therefore, none of the exceptions to categorical exemptions listed in CEQA Guidelines section 15300.2 apply to this project, and this project will not have a significant effect on the environment.
For these reasons, the proposed work will not have any significant effect on the environment and is exempt under California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 15301, Existing Facilities (14 CCR, Section 15301).
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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