What if we EV retrofit half the Australian vehicle fleet?

Calling for startups, entrepreneurs and visionary teams to join us and build the future of the Australian lithium battery value chain as we launch the second annual Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge, “Retrofit Nation”. What if we convert half the Australian vehicle fleet to EVs – over 10 million vehicles – and massively increase Australian battery demand?

Explore this astounding Australian-made opportunity with a panel of expert practitioners and climate leaders:

• Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus, and Founding Director of EnergyLab

• Luan Atkinson, CEO of Renewable Metals and winner 1st Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge

• Lex Forsyth, CEO of Janus Electric EV retrofitting prime movers in Australia and California

• Moderated by Kirk McDonald, Project Manager at Supercharge Australia

Supercharge Australia is a project of world-leading not-for-profit startup support organisations New Energy Nexus and EnergyLab. Participants in our inaugural Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge have raised over $40 million in funding after the first challenge, and in the 2nd Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge, we hope to uncover more opportunities for rapid support and growth for Australian solutions.

The mass EV retrofit opportunity would supply more EVs sooner into the Australian and global markets by putting electric motors and batteries into existing vehicles at scale.

It would provide electrified trucks to electrified cars and everything in between to help meet our climate goals, skill up and motivate our workforce, provide earlier grid support with “batteries on wheels” and aggregate and bring forward massive lithium battery demand; over 1 Twh, 20x our current near term demand estimate to 2030. This will de-risk and incentivise lithium battery and cell production in Australia, in the best case using our world-class renewable energy resources.

To mass EV retrofit Australia’s vehicle fleet, there are many open challenges that the startup innovation ecosystem could solve here and globally, for example:

• What are the next-generation drivetrain solutions and battery technologies we can apply and how do we produce them at scale?

• How do we design EV retrofits across hundreds of vehicle types and models?

• How do we invent and apply advanced manufacturing techniques?

• What are the software solutions to integrate drivetrain upgrades with existing vehicle technology, to add advanced driver-assist technologies and to maximise their energy storage benefits (Vehicle-to-Grid)?

• How do we most efficiently train and upskill the workforce required to complete the retrofits with consideration for safety compliance?

We produce half of the world’s lithium yet retain less than 1% of the value it produces. It is time we change this, together!

Join us as we launch the 2nd Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge, “Retrofit Nation” and call for startups, entrepreneurs and visionary teams to build the future of the Australian lithium battery value chain.