Samsar Hits 1,000 Nissan Leaf Batteries Given a Second Life
Samsar Resources says it has now turned 1,000 Nissan Leaf packs into working energy storage — a milestone that tests whether second-life batteries can scale past the pilot stage.
EV battery remanufacturing startup Samsar Resources said on 25 September 2026 that it has repurposed 1,000 Nissan Leaf battery packs into new energy storage, a milestone reached as Nissan's US-listed ADR (NSANY) traded at 3.85, down 3.02% on the day.
Samsar Resources, a startup that rebuilds used electric-vehicle batteries instead of shredding them, says it has now put 1,000 Nissan Leaf packs back to work as stationary energy storage. The company marked the thousandth pack as a milestone, according to electrive.
The number itself is modest next to the output of any gigafactory. What makes it notable is the category it belongs to. Second-life battery reuse has spent a decade producing demonstration projects, university pilots and press releases about a single container of repurposed cells wired to a solar array. A thousand packs processed by one company is a different kind of claim: it implies a repeatable intake process, a repeatable test-and-grade process, and enough downstream demand to absorb the output.
Why the Leaf became the default feedstock
The Nissan Leaf is the obvious starting point for anyone in this business, and not by accident. It was among the first mass-market electric cars sold in volume, which means its packs are the oldest large population of EV batteries now reaching the end of their automotive service life. Those cars were sold worldwide, they were sold to ordinary buyers rather than fleets alone, and they have been on the road long enough that a steady stream of packs now arrives at dismantlers, insurers and salvage auctions every week.
That matters because the hardest part of remanufacturing is not the engineering — it is the supply chain. A remanufacturer needs packs of a known chemistry, a known module layout and a known state-of-health profile, delivered reliably enough to keep a line busy. One vehicle model supplied in large numbers over many years gives exactly that. A workshop that has opened a thousand Leaf packs knows where the bolts are, knows which modules typically degrade first, and can price an incoming pack with some confidence before it is even unwrapped.
The flip side is concentration risk. A business built on a single donor model is exposed to how long that model's retired fleet keeps flowing, and to competition from other buyers of the same packs — including the growing set of recyclers who want the cells not for reuse but for the nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium inside them.
Reuse versus recycling: two bids for the same pack
Every retired EV battery is the subject of a quiet auction between two business models. Recyclers want to break the pack down to black mass and recover metals, which gives the pack a floor value tied to commodity prices. Remanufacturers such as Samsar want to keep the cells intact and sell the remaining capacity as storage, which is worth more per kilowatt-hour when it works but requires diagnostics, warranty exposure and a customer who trusts used cells.
Which model wins on any given pack depends on state of health. A battery that has lost enough capacity to be unusable in a car may still hold plenty for a stationary application, where weight, volume and fast-charging capability barely matter and the duty cycle is gentler. A pack that has been damaged, flooded or thermally abused goes to the recycler. Sorting the two quickly and cheaply is effectively the whole business.
When battery metal prices are high, recyclers can outbid remanufacturers for feedstock. When they are low, more packs flow toward reuse. That is the swing factor to watch for anyone tracking whether second-life storage graduates from niche to industry — not the technology, which is well understood, but the relative economics of the two exits.
Where a thousand repurposed packs actually go
Second-life systems rarely compete head-on with new lithium-iron-phosphate racks in utility-scale projects, where developers want long warranties, standardised cabinets and predictable degradation curves. The natural market sits a tier below: commercial and industrial buildings shaving peak demand charges, off-grid and weak-grid sites, EV charging hubs that need a buffer so they can avoid an expensive grid connection upgrade, and construction or event power replacing diesel generators.
In each of those cases the buyer is comparing a second-life system not against the cheapest new battery but against a grid upgrade, a diesel bill or a demand charge. That comparison is far more forgiving, and it is where reuse businesses tend to find their first paying customers.
In each of those cases the buyer is comparing a second-life system not against the cheapest new battery but against a grid upgrade, a diesel bill or a demand charge.
There is also a policy tailwind. Regulators in several major markets have been moving toward battery passports, recycled-content requirements and extended producer responsibility rules that make automakers accountable for what happens to packs at end of life. Those rules push value toward anyone who can document a pack's history and prove what happened to it — which favours organised remanufacturers over informal dismantling.
The carmaker's side of the ledger
Nissan itself does not capture the value of what Samsar is doing; once a Leaf is scrapped, the pack has left the carmaker's economics entirely. But a healthy residual market for used packs feeds back into new-car pricing, because resale values and insurance write-off thresholds both depend on what a damaged or aged battery is worth.
Investors have not treated that as a needle-mover. Nissan's US-traded ADR, NSANY, changed hands at 3.85 as of 15:34 GMT on 25 September 2026, down 3.02% on the day from a previous close of 3.98, with a session range of 3.83 to 3.99 — the low end of the day's band. That weakness came against a firm broad market: the S&P 500 tracker (NYSEARCA: SPY) was at $769.62, up 0.32%, the Nasdaq 100 tracker (NASDAQ: QQQ) at $743.58, up 0.33%, and the Dow tracker (NYSEARCA: DIA) at $515.02, up 0.46%. A milestone in the afterlife of a decade-old product line is not what moves an automaker's shares, and nothing in the day's tape suggests otherwise.
What would make the next thousand harder — or easier
Scaling from one thousand packs to ten thousand changes the problem. Diagnostics have to become faster and more automated, because manual module-by-module testing does not scale. Warranties have to be underwritten by someone, which usually means partnering with an insurer or accepting a shorter guaranteed life than new equipment offers. And the feedstock mix has to broaden beyond a single donor model, which reintroduces all the variability that made the first thousand packs manageable.
The signals worth tracking from here are concrete: whether Samsar announces supply agreements with dismantlers, insurers or automakers that lock in packs rather than buying them opportunistically; whether it publishes installed capacity rather than pack counts, which is the unit customers actually buy; and whether battery metal prices firm up enough to pull retired packs back toward the shredder. The thousandth Leaf battery is a real marker. The thousandth is also, in an industry that will retire millions of packs this decade, a reminder of how early this all still is.
Key facts
- Milestone: 1,000 Nissan Leaf battery packs repurposed by Samsar Resources
- NSANY price: 3.85, -3.02% as of 15:34 GMT, 25 Sep 2026
- NSANY day range: 3.83–3.99, previous close 3.98
- Market backdrop: SPY $769.62 (+0.32%), QQQ $743.58 (+0.33%), DIA $515.02 (+0.46%)
Frequently asked questions
What did Samsar Resources announce?
Samsar Resources, an EV battery remanufacturing startup, said it has repurposed 1,000 Nissan Leaf battery packs into new energy storage. The company presented the thousandth pack as a milestone for its operations. The announcement was reported on 25 September 2026 and does not include a disclosed installed capacity figure or revenue detail.
What is a second-life EV battery?
A second-life battery is an electric-vehicle pack that has lost too much capacity for automotive use but still holds enough energy for stationary applications. The pack is tested, graded, sometimes rebuilt at module level, and redeployed in storage systems where weight, volume and fast-charging performance matter far less than they do in a car.
Why are Nissan Leaf packs used so often?
The Leaf was one of the first mass-market electric cars sold in large volumes worldwide, so its packs form the oldest big population of EV batteries now reaching end of automotive life. A single, well-understood donor model gives remanufacturers consistent chemistry, module layout and degradation behaviour, which makes intake, testing and pricing far easier to standardise.
How does reuse compete with battery recycling?
Recyclers buy retired packs to recover nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium, setting a floor price tied to metal markets. Remanufacturers buy the same packs to keep the cells working. When battery metal prices rise, recyclers can outbid reuse businesses for feedstock; when prices fall, more packs flow toward second-life storage.
Where is Nissan's stock trading?
Nissan's US-listed ADR, NSANY, traded at 3.85 as of 15:34 GMT on 25 September 2026, down 3.02% from a previous close of 3.98, within a session range of 3.83 to 3.99. That decline came while broad US benchmarks were higher, with SPY up 0.32% and QQQ up 0.33% on the day.
Who buys second-life storage systems?
Typical buyers are commercial and industrial sites cutting peak demand charges, off-grid or weak-grid installations, EV charging hubs avoiding costly grid connection upgrades, and construction or event operators replacing diesel generators. These customers compare second-life systems against grid upgrades or fuel bills rather than against the cheapest new battery racks.
