Start-ups Bilmo and Octave launch 2 innovative projects

Brussels start-ups Bilmo and Octave, winners of the Bebat, OVAM and Brussels Environment project call, have launched two innovative projects.

Octave is building an energy storage system made of battery modules from electric cars, and Bilmo supplies energy to carrier bicycles using recycled bicycle battery cells.

Octave offers a smart answer to the growing need for flexibility within the electricity grid. The start-up reuses batteries from electric vehicles and transforms them into a smart storage system to optimise its customers' electricity management.

The 'Octave Cabinet' is a medium-sized battery energy storage system, perfectly suited to optimise the energy management of SMEs or industrial sites. The battery can be used to increase self-consumption, reduce consumption peaks and even balance the grid.

Octave's first circular battery has a capacity of 75 kWh and was put into service on 19 July 2022 at Terranova Solar, one of the largest solar panel parks in the Benelux.

The start-up Bilmo was founded in 2020 and is the first to offer this fully reusable and repairable battery system in Belgium. These innovative batteries can be used for various applications, such as powering a meeting projector, a refrigerator and many other utensils. Thanks to its power and portability, this battery is extremely versatile, allowing many professional activities to be carried out by bike. Based on used batteries, this new product is fully compatible with the circular economy.

The other winners of the Bebat, OVAM and Brussels Environment call for projects come from Flanders:

• Project BatteryPackService and Hoogmartens
  t Project BatteryPackService and Hoogmartens, cells from discarded bicycle batteries are recycled into new block batteries for road signs. Road signs currently run exclusively on disposable batteries, which can be made much more sustainable by using rechargeable batteries. A prototype has already been developed for the corresponding charging station.
• Project Sunbat - Ministry of Solar and Electa (KUL)
  Project Sunbat - Ministry of Solar and Electa (KUL) focuses on the batteries of electric buses that are being scrapped. Their new function? A stationary battery that stores renewable energy from the sun and wind for SMEs that want to charge their electric vehicles quickly. What makes this project so innovative? It is the first time that batteries from e-buses are reused in Belgium.

Source: https://bebat.prezly.com/s/af69f9e6-82c4-49dd-bab9-86f63ff7b555