Dickson Leow, GM Circular Hybrid and EV Power Solutions for the IM Group, has been named general manager of a new group Infinitev, a business born to reuse end-of-life electric vehicle batteries.
Infinitev was launched in November 2022 and its primary purpose is to ensure expired electric vehicle batteries get a second life and not end up in landfill. In late 2022 Infinitev announced results from a BESS — battery energy storage system — pilot it did with Sustainability Victoria.
“Launching Infinitev we are trying to create a circular economy for batteries. That’s what Infinitev is all about,” said Leow.
“Infinitev is about creating a world without waste. So we try to envision where all these EV batteries are brought along this journey from the first use so to speak that can be reused, repurposed and recycled infinitely.”
Sustainability Victoria is a government agency dedicated to transitioning to a circular economy from the current linear economy.
Infinitev and the IM Group (IM stands for Innovative Mechatronics) both belong to the listed GUD Group. GUD has a bunch of companies and brands in the automotive aftermarket sector including Ryco, Wesfil, Goss, Narva, Projecta, AA Gaskets, Injectronics, and DBA.
“We actually use the battery from the EV vehicles, once they’re no longer functioning at the optimum level for vehicles. We can repurpose them for battery energy storage systems that will power a commercial factory or a dealership showroom, even small shopping centres etcetera. That’s the real application,” said Leow in a Skype call with Fleet News Group.
Infinitev is targeting the business sector for its application, rather than the residential sector, which it could also serve very well. More bang for buck so to speak.
“From a residential [property] you’re using 5-10 kilowatt-hours at most. Whereas in the commercial sector, you’re using anything from 50-60 kilowatt hour a day up to like what we did for the pilot, 120-kilowatt-hour unit. So it is just more economical sense to target the commercial businesses.”
What’s good to know is that the IM Group and Infinitev are first movers in this space. There’s no-one else doing it. They are at the forefront of agitating for legislation or regulation of end-of-life EV batteries. It’s important to recognise too that a battery in an EV is considered end-of-life when it still has some 80 percent of its life left — that’s why it’s perfect for another use, and shocking to consider it might otherwise go to landfill.
For fleets, Leow wants them to know that they can send their EV batteries to Infinitev for repurposing.
“That’s the story that we want to make sure it gets out there,” said Leow. “The battery is now going to who knows where and that’s what we’re trying to stop.”
