Zenobe, the UK’s leading independent owner and operator of battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) fleet specialists, have partnered with the Extreme E race series. The off-road racing events are taking place around the globe to highlight the devastating effects of the climate crisis.
The gender-equal race series has attracted some of the biggest names in motorsport. These include off-road truck champion Jamie Chadwick, X Games Medallist Sara Price and Australian rally champion Molly Taylor along with F1 stars Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Nico Rosburg.
Zenobe’s second-life battery will be used power to Extreme E’s site operations. It will power the team garages and critical broadcast infrastructure, and in the process help the series meet its net-zero target and highlighting the power of a circular economy.
The battery’s first life saw it operating in Sweden, where it helped bring cleaner air to Stockholm, powering an all-electric bus in the heart of the city. In this battery’s new life, it will utilise its remaining untapped capacity powering Extreme E’s site operations offer 120kWh of power.
It’s good to see electric vehicle batteries being repurposed using Zenobe’s innovative second-life battery solution. As the official energy storage supplier for the Extreme E’s inaugural season, Zenobe’s second-life battery will allow the series to maximise the consumption of renewable energy generated onsite.
This ground-breaking second-life battery it highlights the vast capabilities of batteries. As businesses across the globe look to reduce emissions and go green, this second-life battery project demonstrates the value of a circular economy and is the first of several upcoming second-life projects for Zenobe in 2021.
The new battery will have its first outing in Dakar at the Extreme E event taking place in Lac Rose, Senegal. It will then travel to Greenland, the West African coastline and the Amazon rainforests the season progresses.
In its first life on a bus, the battery saved nearly 1000 tonnes of CO2. In its second life, it will help Extreme E save roughly 15 tonnes of CO2 per year. Extreme E are not only focusing on the problems of areas damaged because of climate change, but are trying to highlight how motorsport operations can be reinvented.
Steven Meersman, co-founder and director at Zenobe, said: “We are proud to be partnering with Extreme E, an organisation that shares our passion for using electrification to enable a cleaner, greener future.
“Reusing is central to this. At Zenobe we are dedicated to advancing battery application with a particular focus on what happens to EV batteries at the end of their lives on vehicles. Our growing second-life battery operations solve this issue, as we reuse batteries from our electric fleets across Europe and close the loop.
“As the world continues to drive towards its net-zero goal, Zenobe is committed to leading the charge towards a circular economy, embracing second-life battery technology and championing its vast capabilities.”
Alejandro Agag, Extreme E CEO, said: “We are proud to be working with Zenobe to provide a second life for this former bus battery. As a series we are committed to minimising our carbon impact at all levels, and becoming a platform for renewable energy solutions which have wider world use.
“This battery will now play a very important role in powering our paddock operations, ensuring that it is not just on the race track where we can showcase our low carbon solutions to everyday issues.”
