Millions of e-bike and e-scooter batteries are thrown away every year, even though they might still have life in them. Now, a German startup is trying to reduce battery waste by integrating used batteries from e-mobility vehicles into energy storage systems.

EDENenergy, which has just three part-time staff members in addition to its three founders, has shipped its first commercial product, a 70-kilowatt-hour battery system that uses no fewer than 112 second-life e-scooter batteries.

All modules were thoroughly tested, and the results were better than expected. The company’s founders, who used to be researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, said that they expected the old batteries to have roughly 80% life left in them, but the tests revealed that most retained about 90% of their original capacity.

After being abused in their previous life, the e-scooter batteries will have a much easier future in the startup’s energy storage systems, where vibrations and large temperature fluctuations are non-existent. What’s more, the long-term energy capacity of the system can be easily kept at 70 kWh by simply replacing modules that become unusable down the line.

The startup said it remotely monitors each module, and when it’s time for a replacement, it can be done without powering down the whole system. That’s a big plus, especially for energy-sensitive scenarios where cutting the power would result in massive losses.

The keen-eyed among you might have noticed that there’s a solar inverter on one side of the battery box. That’s because EDENenergy’s first product was designed for companies that have solar panels but can’t store solar energy yet.

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