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One of the most ambitious electric vehicle (EV) battery repurposing projects in the world is in the works in Surrey, B.C.

Moment Energy began a rapid build-out of an existing structure in May. The company is planning to complete the retrofit within six weeks, with the plant operational by the end of June.

Retrofitting an existing structure rather than going through the traditional and lengthy greenfield factory build will enable the project to be completed in a much shorter timeline. Conventional battery manufacturing plants often require years of planning and construction.

Unlike battery factories that manufacture new lithium-ion cells from raw materials, Moment Energy’s facility will focus on repurposing retired EV batteries. The Coquitlam-based clean energy company will take batteries that have reached the end of their useful life in vehicles, test and recondition them, and convert them into commercial-scale battery energy storage systems for industrial customers, utilities and data centres.

“This is about building the infrastructure needed to support the next generation of energy demand,” said Edward Chiang, co-founder and CEO of Moment Energy. “We are proud to establish this facility in Canada, the country where Moment Energy was founded, to foster domestic manufacturing.

“This scaling solution utilizes existing battery resources to deliver the reliable, affordable power that is so crucial right now.”

The factory is being designed as a fully vertically integrated operation, managing the entire lifecycle of second-life batteries under one roof. Incoming battery packs will undergo intake inspections, diagnostics and performance testing. Batteries will then be sorted and graded based on their remaining capacity and condition before moving through a reconditioning and rebuilding processes.

Once refurbished, the batteries will be integrated into modular energy storage products and assembled into deployment-ready systems. Dedicated testing and safety zones will verify performance and compliance before the finished units are shipped to customers.

The company is installing advanced diagnostic systems, battery health evaluation equipment, electrical integration technologies and assembly lines designed specifically for battery energy storage systems.

“The shell of the building is finished,” Chiang explained. “We’re not taking raw lithium, cobalt, manganese, battery critical minerals, we’re not rolling them into battery cells.” Instead, the company is focused on giving existing EV batteries a productive second life.

The factory’s primary output will be commercial-scale battery energy storage systems used to support power-intensive applications. Customers will include utilities seeking greater grid stability, industrial operators looking to reduce energy costs and improve resilience, and data centres facing growing electricity demands driven by artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Moment Energy’s systems are built using batteries that often retain between 80 and 90 per cent of their original capacity after retirement from automotive service.

According to Chiang, many EV batteries are removed from vehicles despite having significant usable life remaining. Through testing and reconditioning, batteries can retain closer to 90 to 95 per cent life left, making them well-suited for stationary energy storage applications, he said.

The company’s battery systems can be used for backup power during outages, storing renewable energy generated by solar installations and helping utilities balance electricity supply and demand. Repurposing batteries also extends their useful life by at least another decade while reducing the need for newly manufactured cells and the associated environmental impacts of mining and processing raw materials.

Moment Energy plans to scale production capacity to one gigawatt hour annually by 2030. The facility will create more than 100 skilled jobs in B.C. over the next five years.

The company plans to maintain a domestic supply chain. Batteries sourced from North American vehicles will remain within North America throughout the repurposing process.

The facility will operate under a leading industry standard governing the evaluation and repurposing of retired battery systems. Moment Energy says the plant will be one of the few facilities globally operating at this scale under such certification standards.

The project is being funded through the company’s recently completed US$40 million Series B financing round, which brought the company’s total capital raised to more than US$100 million. The investment was led by Evok Innovations.

The funding is supporting the company’s expansion in British Columbia and Texas as it works to meet rapidly growing demand for energy storage solutions.

“AI is exposing what’s been broken in the grid for years, and the answer isn’t waiting on the next trillion-dollar utility upgrade,” said Chiang. “The era of independent energy is here, energy free from a grid that can’t keep up, supply chains we don’t control, and decades of new extraction. It starts with the batteries already on our roads. We’re certified to put them to work.”