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Moment Energy CEO Edward Chiang believes demand for power in North America is infinite \u2014 and that his startup has the solution.<\/p>\n
The company, which has headquarters in Canada and the United States, takes a novel approach to repurposing electric vehicle batteries, Chiang told TechCrunch. The company\u2019s approach is special, he said, because of its dual focus on safety and modularity.<\/p>\n
Investors apparently agree. On Tuesday, Moment Energy announced it has raised a $40 million Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to more than $100 million. The round was led by Canadian VC firm Evok Innovations<\/a>, with additional funding from grocery retailer fund W23, joining existing investors like Amazon\u2019s Climate Pledge Fund and In-Q-Tel, the CIA-funded VC firm.<\/p>\n In Chiang\u2019s view, the electric grid in North America is in a losing race to keep up with this demand for power, driven by an increasingly extreme climate, the rise of electric vehicles, and the data center boom. So far, he says mostly Chinese companies have filled this demand \u2014 to the tune of about 72% of the global market, according to BNEF<\/a> \u2014 adding a national security wrinkle to the picture. <\/p>\n Moment Energy is tackling this by taking battery packs from electric vehicles, ripping out the automakers\u2019 battery management systems, and writing its own software to manage the packs. It then packages the battery modules into larger grid-scale storage solutions that can host a wide mix of battery chemistries, allowing customers to benefit from future advances in the technology while also reducing downtime if a particular module fails.<\/p>\n Crucially, Chiang said, Moment Energy is doing this all with UL Certification, making it the first company to repurpose batteries with a stamp of approval from the safety organization. <\/p>\n Chiang said other companies working on repurposing EV batteries for long-term storage often claim that they test their products against UL certification standards, but that they don\u2019t actually obtain the certifications, which requires the use of certain components. <\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> \u201cWhat most other second life [battery] companies are now trying to say is, let\u2019s just lobby to make second life UL certification easier, because it is impossible to get UL certification, as it stands,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at Moment, we say that\u2019s not true. We got it.\u201d<\/p>\n UL certification may sound boring, but Chiang said it can make a difference not only when it comes to safety, but also in how these energy storage products are insured. <\/p>\n He claimed (without naming them) that other energy storage companies will leave an automaker\u2019s battery management system in tact on the re-used batteries, and essentially trick the pack into thinking it\u2019s still on the road to coax the right amount of discharge. <\/p>\n This could make these storage solutions either uninsurable or too costly to insure, Chiang said. He pointed to Liberty Mutual\u2019s venture arm participation in Moment Energy\u2019s Series B as proof that his company\u2019s solution is above board.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe as engineers, or as consumers, we think that\u2019s kind of interesting,\u201d he said. \u201cIn reality, fire inspectors don\u2019t think that\u2019s interesting. Automakers don\u2019t think that\u2019s interesting. You can imagine if \u2014 I really hope this never happens \u2014 but if a battery catches fire, the fire inspector will say, \u2018Oh, hey, there\u2019s a Tesla battery management system in here, or there\u2019s a Nissan battery management system in here,\u2019 and the automaker will say: \u2018I\u2019ve never given permission for anybody to hack and bootleg my safety systems.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Chiang\u2019s confidence seems to come from a number of places. Despite being small \u2014 Chiang said Moment Energy has around 72 employees \u2014 the company has signed supply deals with Mercedes-Benz and Nissan. It secured a $20 million loan from the Department of Energy. And it\u2019s building a gigawatt-scale factory in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n Moment also has a growing book of diverse customers, from utilities, to industrial companies, and \u2014 yes \u2014 data centers. <\/p>\n But Chiang said he also thinks a lot of Moment Energy\u2019s approach comes from the fact that it\u2019s a Canadian company at heart, removed from some of the most base impulses of Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n While Chiang said \u201call the data center companies have been reaching out to us,\u201d he also stressed that his company didn\u2019t want to walk into a trap by fundraising against promises that can\u2019t be met.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve been really thinking about as a whole is just staying focused overall in what we know, and what we\u2019re building, and serving real customers, versus trying to sign up deals that are five years or 10 years down the road just to fundraise. And unfortunately, we see that a lot of Bay Area startups are less so trying to deliver product, but they\u2019re trying to raise the next round,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cBut for us, I think because we had roots up in Canada, a lot of Canadian companies focus on building a tangible business and a real, profitable business, as well as a high-growth business, and we\u2019re pretty realistic when it comes to deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n
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