World’s largest EV battery repurposing megafactory opens in Metro Vancouver
One of B.C.’s fastest-growing cleantech companies has reached a new milestone with the recent grand opening of the world’s largest EV battery repurposing facility.
Coquitlam-based Moment Energy opened its doors to Megafactory 1 earlier in June, with the Surrey facility turning retired EV batteries into energy storage systems for data centres, hospitals, microgrids, factories, and more.
According to Edward Chiang, co-founder and CEO of Moment Energy, the project took only six weeks from its announcement to being operational.
Moment Energy
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“Demand for energy storage is accelerating, and so is the supply of retired EV batteries,” said Chiang in a release.
“We show that the right technology can enable North America to re-onshore domestic manufacturing in weeks, not decades, creating thousands of jobs and economic prosperity.”
Chiang and three fellow engineering grads from SFU – Sumreen Rattan, Gabriel Soares and Gurmesh Sidhu – founded Moment Energy in a home garage in Surrey in 2019.
Since then, it has secured an EV battery supply-chain relationship with Nissan North America and Mercedes-Benz Energy, deployed energy storage projects at Quadra Island, and garnered over US$100 million in funding.
Moment Energy
Megafactory 1 is expected to produce 1 GWh of battery energy storage systems by 2030. Moment Energy also stated that it will be creating over 100 direct jobs and supporting more than 1,000 indirect jobs across the province.
“This is exactly the kind of homegrown innovation we want to see scaling up in British Columbia,” said Gregor Robertson, minister of housing and infrastructure and minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan), in a statement.
“With PacifiCan’s $4.9 million investment, Moment Energy is expanding clean manufacturing, creating good local jobs, and finding smart solutions to global challenges. This new facility is not only powering a more sustainable future, it is helping to build a stronger, more resilient economy for British Columbians and all Canadians.”
Moment Energy
B.C. companies are leading the way when it comes to major recycling projects.
Light House, a non-profit that promotes regenerative and circular practices in construction, recently completed a 14-month pilot project called the Construction Plastics Initiative, working with eight construction projects across the region to recycle and repurpose plastic waste.
Approximately 38,000 kilograms of construction plastic were diverted from landfills in just over a year.