Lime Is Up-Cycling the Old E-Bike Batteries into Portable Speakers

Mar, 2021 - By WMR

Gomi, a British company that produces environmentally friendly devices and chargers, has unveiled a range of Bluetooth speakers which are portable and made from Lime e-bike batteries.

Gomi will create the Gomi Speaker with a 20-hour battery life using 50,000 battery cells from 1,000 old e-bikes as part of a collaboration with Lime. And the portable speakers will be available on Kickstarter on 2^nd March, 2021 for US$138. The speakers will come in various colors like blue, black, green, and a unique color named birthday cake, additionally, the speakers will be made entirely of plastic waste which are recycled. The speakers' quality of sound and long lasting battery life of 20 hours make them suitable for using them in both indoor and outdoor setting, as the quality of the speaker is high that they are sold with a 'repairs-for-life' return service to make sure that they are never thrown away prematurely, according to the company.

According to Lime, batteries that are damaged are cleaned and evaluated minutely before being placed in speakers, as the batteries are being reused. When charge of the cycles fall below a certain level, cells are considered dead for the purposes of an e-bike, but they are still very much useful for less usage electronics devices such as the speakers.

There are many electronics available in the market which are not environmentally friendly so the company came up with this idea for developing sustainable products. Although e-scooters and e-bikes are more sustainable for the environment than cars, they've been chastised for their short lifespans. So, Lime's project could help to mitigate their impact on the environment. On a much larger scale, car manufacturers such as Tesla and Renault are up-cycling car batteries for using them in power grids and homes. All the big companies are starting new projects related to sustainable development as this is the new approach for futuristic companies and there will be more demand for such companies in the market in the coming period.