The world faces a glut of used EV batteries at the same time it's facing a clean energy crisis as data centers and other users are gobbling up power. But some sustainability entrepreneurs have figured out how to take one of those problems to solve the other. They are repurposing electric vehicle batteries to provide affordable, climate-friendly electricity. 

In this episode of Positive Charge, we’ll go inside Moment Energy's massive new production facility in British Columbia to see how retired EV batteries are being resurrected into mega batteries that bring power to off-grid communities, industrial sites and businesses. We’ll talk to battery pioneers at Redwood Materials, which deployed the world's largest used-battery and solar installation in Nevada to electrify an AI data center. 

And we'll seek answers to a critical question: Can yesterday's commute power today's AI boom and our clean energy future? 

Sources and references

Interviews:

• Eddy Chiang, CEO and co-founder at Moment Energy
• Colin Campbell, chief technology officer at Redwood Materials
• Scott Williams, vice president of energy at Crusoe
• Grayson Shor, founder and executive director of the Pacific Northwest Battery Collaborative, and co-founder and chief product officer of Buckstop, a circular-economy startup focused on the recovery of minerals and other valuable materials

Additional sources:

• "Electric-Vehicle Battery Basics" (Car and Driver)
• "How long do EV batteries last" (Recurrent)
• God's Pocket Resort eco-lodge

This episode was hosted by Lisa Stiffler and Laura Scott, and edited and produced by Laura Scott, with editorial assistance from Todd Bishop. Sponsored by Amazon Sustainability.