Illu s t r a t i o n : J a n ik S ö ll n e r/ N o u n P r oj e c t
THE
NBOX
i
When Claus Eckbo first
heard of Moment Energy, he
was intrigued. For decades,
God's Pocket Resort—a remote
off-grid lodge near Port Hardy
that he purchased in 2019—had
relied almost entirely on diesel
generators to power the cold-
water scuba diving and kayak-
ing destination. The generators
were noisy and inefficient, and
plumes of grey diesel exhaust
would mingle with the fresh
forest air—less than ideal for an
eco-minded getaway.
But in the spring of 2023,
God's Pocket managed to re-
duce its generator runtime by
75 percent—and it was thanks
to something urban dwellers
had been discarding: used
electric car batteries.
"We used to run our gener-
ators eight to 10 hours a day,"
says Eckbo, who worked in pri-
vate equity and social impact
investing prior to taking on the
resort. "Now we can strategi-
cally charge the batteries while
guests are away on a boat. So
they never hear a generator
during their entire stay, which
is mind-blowing."
The resort's battery energy
storage system was the first
commercial project for Mo-
ment Energy, a fast-growing
B.C. startup that's giving
spent EV batteries a second
life as usable power systems,
primarily in commercial and
industrial settings.
The company was started
by four Simon Fraser University
grads who met while studying
mechatronics engineering—the
combination of mechanical and
electronic systems—and formed
a team that designed and built
a small electric race car for
international competition.
Surprisingly, most retired
EV batteries still have roughly
80 percent of their storage
capacity—not enough for EV
drivers looking to maximize
their range, but still useful in
other arenas.
"Most people don't realize
there's so much potential left
in these batteries," says Sum-
reen Rattan, co-founder and
COO of Coquitlam-based Mo-
ment. The key, she explains, is
space. Cars only have so much
room to accommodate the
large, weighty EV batteries, so
once their performance dips,
you can't simply add more—
but properties don't have the
same constraints. "So as we
got more and more into it, we
realized how huge this oppor-
tunity is going to be."
"Huge" is no overstatement.
In December, the federal gov-
ernment unveiled the Electric
Vehicle Availability Standard,
SEIZING THE
MOMENT
How a B.C. startup is breathing new life
into spent EV batteries
E N V I R O N M E N T
PLAYING GOD
God's Pocket Resort
near Port Hardy was
the first commercial
project for Moment
Energy, a startup
that's turning spent EV
batteries into usable
power systems
by Jennifer Van Evra
Jennifer Van Evra is an
award-winning Vancouver
journalist, broadcaster and UBC
writing instructor
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