Raleigh’s parent company Accell Group and Dutch firm Refurb Battery are looking to reduce CO2 emissions by giving a second life to discarded e-bike batteries, following a successful pilot where 5,000 used electric bike batteries were repurposed.

Refurb Battery is a Dutch firm that is developing circular energy storage systems. It says it recently assessed more than 5,000 used e-bike batteries, which had a total weight of more than 16 tonnes, from which more than 100,000 battery cells could be reused. 

As well as reducing li-ion waste and saving raw materials, reuse can also reduce CO2 emissions that would arise from the production of new battery cells. Refurb Battery says if these battery cells had to be produced new, the emissions would amount to more than 100 tonnes of CO2.

Jonas Nilsson, chief operating officer at Accell Group, said: “As a leading European manufacturer of e-bikes, Accell contributes to society by providing sustainable mobility solutions. By enabling a second life for batteries, our products become even more sustainable, reducing the carbon footprint of our e-bikes.”

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Accell Group and Refurb Battery will also continue to work together on exchanging data and insights to further enhance the lifespan, collection, and reuse of bike batteries. They said this collaboration aims to increase the circularity of the entire bike battery in the future.

Marty Smits, founder of Refurb Battery, added: “Accell Group has been a committed partner since 2020 and has worked with us to map out how we can give battery cells from bicycle batteries a second life. Now we are taking the step together to safely reuse as many cells as possible in Europe.”