Supercharge Australia has announced a new initiative aimed at driving onshore lithium battery innovation, by challenging 11 pre-selected start-ups to deliver ground-breaking new technologies or ancillary services in the field.
Supercharge Australia is a partnership between EnergyLab, an Australasia climate tech start-up accelerator, and New Energy Nexus, which describes itself as an ‘ecosystem’ of funds and accelerators in the clean energy.
The new initiative, the Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge, is designed to capture more of the lithium value chain within Australia – currently, Australia’s lithium battery value chain represents just 1% of global product value, even though we produce 60% of the world’s lithium.
That’s because most of the technologies – direct and ancillary – that are involved in the production of lithium batteries are carried out abroad. According to the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre(IMCRC), Australia imports 100% of its end-product lithium-ion batteries.
With the global lithium-ion battery market projected to be worth $242 billion by 2026, on-shoring more of the lithium battery value chain is a major focus of businesses and research institutions.
Selected by an expert panel from CSIRO, Boundless, New Energy Nexus and EnergyLab, the eleven startups are:
EV FireSafe for Business
Co-founded by two firefighters, this company provides expert electric vehicle fire and safety knowledge for companies working with electrified transport.
Farste Drive
This Geelong-based company has reportedly developed a cost-effective hub motor to counter motor inefficiency in EVs and enable internal combustion engines to be converted to EVs cheaply. The company says its high-efficiency motor system is also lighter weight and cheaper than other systems thanks to its fewer components.
Gelion
Gelion is a battery storage company based in Sydney developing new lithium sulphur and lithium-silicon-sulphur battery technologies which purport to have improved performance, cost and safety.
The Good Car Company
The Hobart-based Good Car Company provides affordable EVs through bulk-buys, direct sales and subscription. The company imports new and second-hand EVs to boost Australia’s lagging – but growing – EV market. The company can also upcycle older EVs with new batteries with more advanced functions like bidirectional charging.
Prohelion
This Brisbane-based company designs and sells battery monitoring systems, mobile energy storage, bespoke high-power battery solutions, accessories and monitoring and consulting services.
Renewable Metals
Based out of Perth, this start-up recycles lithium batteries using a novel technology that it says can recover six critical metals – lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese and graphite – from end-of-life batteries.
Roev
Roev works with businesses and government bodies to help them convert large fleets of utes into EVs.
Sicona Battery Technologies
This technology, developed at the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM) at the University of Wollongong, is described as a “next-gen” materials tech used in the anodes (negative electrodes) of lithium-ion batteries, enabling mobility and storage of renewable energy.
Sustainable Lithium Cells Australia
This Brisbane-based company is another recycling innovator, extracting usable, second-life cells from end-of-life lithium batteries.
Syenta
Born out of the Australian National University, Syenta makes fast multi-material additive manufacturing devices for electronics like solar cells, batteries, sensors and circuit boards.
Vaulta
Vaulta, also out of Brisbane, makes recyclable and repairable high-performance batteries.
The support…
All eleven start-ups will be matched with mentors and receive coaching and support when pitching their offerings. The initiative also wants to encourage collaboration between companies. Like any challenge, this one will have winners, with those start-ups deemed the best winning cash and membership with EnergyLab at an awards night in March.
“Australian innovators are uniquely placed to supply emerging and mature global markets with low impact lithium products and resources to support our energy transition with better batteries,” said Danny Kennedy, CEO New Energy Nexus.
“This Supercharge Australia startup cohort is the vanguard of a decarbonised export powerhouse for our region and the world. Australia is now understanding the vast opportunities that its mineral and renewable energy endowment offers, and the decarbonisation responsibilities it demands,” added Kirk McDonald, Project Manager Supercharge Australia.
