Connected Energy, a company that uses second-life electric vehicle batteries for energy storage, has secured £15 million in funding from five new investors.
Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc., the Hinduja Group, Mercuria, OurCrowd and Volvo Energy have joined existing investors Engie New Ventures, Macquarie, and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund.
The investment will enable Connected Energy to scale-up its operations and move into utility scale project development. It will also facilitate the in-house development of the company’s M-STOR system which is planned to be around 20MW and 40MWh, employing a contracted ‘flow’ of batteries from multiple manufacturers.
Connected Energy has sixteen operational systems across Europe. At its largest siteat Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, it allows the site to balance its energy behind the grid, accommodate a newly enlarged solar farm and an air source heat pump for district heating. At other sites such as those in Germany, Connected Energy’s units are helping to balance the energy supply where EV chargers are used on either side of a motorway.
According to Connected Energy CEO Matthew Lumsden, when batteries are around 25% degraded they are often considered unsuited to life in a vehicle but still have sufficient capacity for up to ten years’ more use in grid applications.
“In order to grow the second life battery industry, strong pan-value chain relationships will be critical to Connected Energy as it expands, and the company’s new investors will complement this effort” said Lumsden. “ Our group of investors now span battery supply through to project deployment and monetisation, and critically this will enable us to plan and manage technology and project development to maximise the volume of batteries that are redeployed in second life applications.”