26: Talking Net Zero Episode 26 - Steven Meersman

Describing himself as “an electrical mechanical engineer who was saved from a career in banking by the financial crisis,” Steven Meersman is a co-founder of Zenobē . He chats with Sara Sloman about how Zenobē is providing transport solutions to the energy grid and vice-versa,  In other words, batteries in bus depots that can store solar energy generated on site, then top up buses during the day, or sell the surplus back to the electricity company at times of peak demand. Not only does it save upgrades to the grid for running electric fleets, but it saves operators money too, typically from £60,000-£600,000 a year. They mull over whether the government’s existing system of ZEBRA electric bus grants is handled in the best way: Surprise, they’re not, creating a big ‘pause’ across the whole industry. He offers a simple solution to free up the log-jam the current funding models create. He also explains how, as a managed service, Zenobē takes away risk from the customer, acting as a new class of service provider, sitting between the vehicle operator and banks (which aren’t able to fund battery assets). We also learn some interesting trivia: What time do depot managers wake up? Finally, Steven explains why Zenobē is buying all the surplus EV batteries across Europe it can find, as it digs deep into using their second life ahead of a tsunami wave of second life batteries becoming available – which must not be recycled. He also hints at how this will be demonstrated at ITT Hub, where Zenobē is the charging partner for demonstrator EVs on site during 11-12 May 2022.