Audi Environmental Foundation supports battery startup Nunam

 Audi Environmental Foundation has announced its support for the battery startup Nunam, which is working on a technology, through which old laptop batteries will become mobile power banks.

The Audi Environmental Foundation targets its support to projects for environment-friendly use of technology under the “Greenovation” action area, says the German luxury carmaker.

Nunam buys discarded laptop batteries from scrap dealers in Karnataka and uses the cells for stationary energy storage systems.

The Audi Environmental Foundation is funding the pilot phase of the project, during which Nunam plans to develop the new power banks to production maturity. It has disassembled and tested about 5,000 cells from 1,000 laptop battery packs. More than 25 energy storage systems are to be developed from them.

However, Audi has not disclosed the funding amount.

These storage systems are being used in rural areas for a pilot trial. In the long-term, Nunam plans to set up a small-scale production facility and transfer the findings to other sources to develop additional power sources.

Rüdiger Recknagel, Managing Director, Audi Environmental Foundation, said, “Technology is most environment-friendly when it remains in use as long as possible. If we can use it for other purposes after their initial use, we can save energy and raw materials and reduce the amount of electronic waste. Effective cycles are an important lever for conserving resources."

Nunam co-founder Prodip Chatterjee, said, “We are creating win-win situations: old battery cells that would otherwise end up in residual waste are first reused and then disposed of properly. Scrap dealers earn money by reselling to us and families and merchants benefit from affordable power banks. A five-year-old laptop can serve as a lighting source for fruit and vegetable merchants in a market, can power a small fan or charge a mobile phone.”