Moment Energy and its shipping containers packed with old EV batteries

Energy storage demand is rapidly increasing, with capacity expected to increase eightfold in the next decade. Moment Energy, founded in 2019 by four college friends who met while studying mechatronics engineering, aims to address this demand by repurposing discarded EV batteries into new grid-connected storage systems. The company's founders previously worked together at companies like Tesla and Apple before returning to collaborate again.

In 2018, a series of tornadoes hit Ottawa, causing power outages and prompting the founders to begin dismantling Nissan Leaf batteries in a garage in British Columbia. They repackaged these batteries to provide backup power systems for homes and businesses. By 2019, the battery storage capacity was projected to grow 40 times by 2040, and Moment Energy's vision appears to have been prescient.

Moment Energy now works with tech companies and customers looking to manage their power supply and prepare for potential outages. The company claims it is the only "second life" battery company to receive certifications from UL, a safety evaluator used by financiers and insurers to assess the security of battery investments.

The industry's growth is driven by the increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), which are the primary source of batteries, and the explosive growth of battery storage technologies. Producing all of these batteries has a significant environmental impact, as it requires mining and processing minerals, manufacturing, and shipping batteries from China to ports worldwide.

When an EV reaches the end of its life, about 80% of the battery capacity remains usable. However, battery recycling is an expensive process and the vast majority of recycling capacity is located in China. Repurposing batteries before recycling them can reduce global warming potential, resource use, and human health impacts. Moment Energy's repurposed batteries can extend a battery's useful life by an additional 10-30 years.

The company has deployed 11 systems so far, mostly for off-grid homes and commercial and industrial facilities. Moment Energy's Megafactory 1 in Vancouver, slated to repurpose one gigawatt-hour of battery capacity per year by 2030, is the world's largest facility for repurposing EV batteries. The company is also building a larger facility in Texas. To realize its full potential, Moment Energy will need to sustain its growth and scale up significantly.