Moment Energy and its shipping containers packed with old EV batteries

Demand for energy storage is surging, with capacity expected to grow eightfold in the next decade. To meet that demand, Moment Energy wants to shortcut a supply chain that now flows largely through China, by domestically repurposing EV batteries into new grid-connected storage systems. Moment Energy’s four founders met while studying mechatronics engineering in college and worked together on a team that built and raced electric cars.

After graduating, they scattered to companies including Tesla and Apple, but aimed to someday work together again. Then, after two tornadoes tore through parts of Ottawa in 2018, taking hospitals and cell towers offline—and putting the now-CEO through his first full-scale power outage—the foursome sensed an opportunity. The team began disassembling Nissan Leaf batteries in a garage in British Columbia and repackaging them to deliver backup systems to homes and businesses.

The battery business was growing quickly: in 2019, just as Moment Energy launched, battery storage capacity was expected to balloon 40 times by 2040. Today, their vision looks prescient. Disasters including hurricanes and wildfires continue to spur blackouts, and booming data center demand has expanded the market for energy storage even further.

Moment now works with tech companies looking for ways to manage their power supply as well as customers preparing for potential outages. Ongoing trade battles between the US and China have been a shot in the arm for the company. Nearly all battery manufacturing is rooted in China and batteries imported to the United States face steep tariffs (though the future of some of those duties remains uncertain).

Meanwhile, Moment will soon be able to categorize its repurposed batteries as domestic products in both Canada and the US, where it’s building its next plant. The company also claims to be the only “second life” battery company to receive important certifications from independent safety evaluator UL, which financiers and insurers use to evaluate whether a battery system is a secure investment. Last year, the world deployed 1.2 terawatt-hours of electric vehicle battery capacity, according to the International Energy Agency.

And while EVs account for the great majority of battery use worldwide, battery storage is now the fastest-growing power technology. Producing all of those batteries, though, is resource-intensive: The minerals must be mined and processed, manufactured into a final product, and then shipped (often from China) to ports around the world. What’s more—when an EV reaches the end of its useful life, as much as 80% of the car’s battery capacity remains.