Accure: intelligent batteries

“Look around you, batteries are everywhere: in phones, computers, cars, power plants, planes. The 21st century is built on batteries. I think they are amazing in the way they can pack all this energy, but they have one major shortcoming: their short operating lifespan. Optimise and upgrade them and you have the key to energy efficiency, decarbonisation and net zero” - says CEO and founder Dr. Kai-Philipp Kairies.

Modern lithium-ion batteries continuously generate operational data through embedded management systems that monitor performance and safety. Yet much of this information remains difficult to access and has historically been underused. “Batteries already contain valuable operational data, but for years it has been too fragmented and inaccessible to use effectively. That is the gap we wanted to solve.”

Kai-Philipp developed a passion for this subject as head of the battery research group at Aachen University. It was considered a 'nerd topic', something very niche at the time - but this reaserch work helped him understand the potential of a platform generating predictive insights that help operators detect issues early, improve performance, and extend battery lifetime.

Accure now monitors more 200,000 batteries all over the world: data is received and processed, for example, from electric ships in Norway, solar storage units in Australia, or windfarm systems in Germany.

As for most start-ups, the challenge at the beginning was financing. “It’s not easy to find investors that believe in your vision and are willing to give money to a bunch of researchers. In VC firm 42Cap we found amazing investors giving us not just the funding, but also incredibly valuable coaching” explains Kai-Philipp Kairies before concluding: “If I had a wish for the future, it would be that the cool technology we develop can be leveraged by everyone so that batteries get us to net zero quicker.”