Shaun Nugent and John Myler created MyNu Energy to solve two problems. Help prevent electric vehicle battery waste and provide energy storage solutions to help manage the transition to sustainable energy.
For more than two decades John has worked in insurance and while working at companies like RACQ he discovered that electric vehicles were being written off when in many cases the battery was completely undamaged.
“Thousands of electric vehicle (EV) batteries go straight into landfill or if they are recycled you only get about 50% reclamation of the material and the other half ends up in landfill anyway.
“As a planet we go through so much to produce every lithium battery and yet here is this great resource going to waste,” said John.
Shaun is an engineer working in power generation, mining operations and infrastructure and so has had a lot of involvement with batteries throughout his career.
“We were talking about this issue of EV battery waste over a few glasses of red wine and thought maybe there is an opportunity to repurpose them.
“In the past we had talked about an off grid charging system based on both battery technology and solar as a standalone power solution but shelved the idea as we needed more cost-effective batteries to make it work.
“Then we realised using recycled EV batteries was the answer and decided it was time to stop talking about it and put our money where our mouths are.”
For the next twelve months John and Shaun focused on turning the concept into a reality.
“As each month progressed we became more excited, especially about the quality of the batteries. New technology goes into EV batteries first and then drip feeds into other battery storage technologies over time, so EV batteries are the best and the safest,” said John.
“About six months into the journey we had the tools, the technology and the software and we built the first prototype on a farm in rural Queensland. It was done to an audience of about 20 cows all watching us work away feverishly,” he laughed.
The project was initially supported by a partnership between the duo’s companies but once they saw the project coming together they formed MyNu Energy. At the beginning of this year they opened for business and started deploying units. Less than two years from an idea over a glass of wine to a fully developed product on the market – an amazing feat.
John and Shaun have created two main products which use the same technology – the PowerQub. A simple but technically complex set up which links two EV batteries to an electronics system creating a PowerQub battery pack.
The Battery Trailer, which has one PowerQub battery pack mounted on its side, can provide up to 160KWh of power storage and 30 kVa of power discharge.
“There is an incredible amount of energy stored in our trailers, equivalent to 12 Tesla power walls. If you are using it just to charge power tools it will run forever and a day. If you are running heavier equipment like big water pumps it will last you a day at least if not a few days.
“The trailers are designed for simple and rapid deployment, we drive in, put the jockey wheel down, switch on the emergency stop, turn on the battery and it’s ready to go. And if you need more power it is a simple matter of adding extra trailer units which can be daisy chained together,” said Shaun.
The 20ft Shipping Container Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) houses 18 EV batteries, offering 1MWh of storage capacity which could power a house for three months or more. Multiple containers can be linked together to provide up to 100MWh of power storage.
“The 1MWh shipping container equates to 75 power walls. Like the trailer, it is designed to be mobile with no permanent infrastructure required so it’s easy to pack up and redeploy. Plus we have 24-hour remote monitoring and access so it is ideal for remote locations.”
Both the shipping containers and trailers are easily rechargeable from a normal three-phase power outlet and a DC fast charging solution is currently under development. They have also built a solar panel system that allows both the trailer and shipping container to become a total off grid power solution.
The benefits don’t stop there.
Back to base monitoring allows performance measuring, providing insights into the equipment it is being used for and unlike a diesel generator where you get a lot of power fluctuations the consistent quality of power puts less wear and tear onto the equipment it is running.
“It also comes with great safety functions as well. Automatic shut off, cameras, remote control, but one of the benefits that we have had the most rewarding feedback about is noise reduction. It is completely silent,” said John.
“That might not seem like much, but during the Cyclone Alfred power outages we dropped a trailer off to the SES to power one of their remote command centres. They were running diesel generators and when we set up the trailer and turned them all off you could see the relief in the faces of all the SES staff and volunteers, it was just phenomenal. An environment without the noise and the fumes is much more enjoyable to be in, especially in high stress situations like that.”
In the mining sector the batteries are particularly useful for tasks such as site establishment, remote power, diesel reduction, field maintenance, field servicing and water management pumping.
There has been a lot of interest in the products already both locally and internationally including from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and even startup accelerator, The Melt, has provided investment support.
“It all comes down to decarbonisation and sustainability. Instead of buying new batteries we are getting an extra ten to fifteen years of life from these recycled batteries,” said John.
“This year there are about 2,000 batteries that are going to waste but that is set to grow to about 10,000 batteries by 2030 as the market for electric vehicles grows. The challenge of managing end-of-life batteries will become increasingly significant and we are proud to be able to provide a responsible and innovative solution.”
