Where it comes from
Our battery represents a revolution in the energy industry. Recently labeled «Solar Impulse Solution», it was made for people who still do not have access to the electricity grid, or only to an unreliable source:
- Technology & research from EPFL (CH) & Berkeley (USA)
- Winner of the 2018 MassChallenge Switzerland startup competition.
- Designed with the invaluable help from the rural populations in Tanzania and Kenya. They made this product viable and were our first support.
- With your support, we will build a production line to move from prototype to mass market!
Who is behind this project?
- David Lambelet, EPFL engineer, Traveled in Kenya and Tanzania
- Briac Barthes, EPFL engineer, Traveled in Kenya and Tanzania, author of the best seller «à la croisée des cultures»
- Jonathan Fiorentini, HEC St. Gallen
- Iohannès Bry, HEIG-VD
How the battery works
The battery is composed of 4 cells. In each cell, just insert:
- An iron plate
- A piece of paper
Then, fill the upper tank with a solution of iron salt mixed with water. And it’s providing electricity for 5 hours to charge a phone or give light. This solution can be used 4 to 5 times before being changed. When this solution turns blue, it could be used as a fertilizer. Even more durable and ecological than solar because it’s not using lithium or any rare chemical components. The energy is not stored, but produced with the iron.
Impacts
As a social enterprise, we consider that the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are important. (image below)
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Economical: In sub-Saharan Africa, people spend 30% for light and phone charging. Switching to the iron battery would enable people to save almost 2 months’ worth of salary per year!
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Environmental: To get light, people burn kerosene which is a disaster for the environment. Kerosene lamps emits as much as CO2 as 5% of the United States own C02 emissions, or 100% of the Co2 produced by the Switzerland. Changing towards hiLyte reduces these emissions by 94%.
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Health: These kerosene lamps are as toxic as 2 packets of cigarettes per day, just in term of black carbon! And kids in Africa are often used to be close to these lamps. Kerosene is also dangerous because it can burn houses easily. Changing to hiLyte is safe and healthy because it doesn’t reject anything bad for the environment or for the people.
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Education: In rural Africa, phones are used for education. It allows people to pay in shops, to stay up to date, and to exchange information with others. Mobile phones is a key issue for the education of these off-grid people.
Other uses :
Even if the main market targeted is the off-grid people, it could be used as a backup plan by many people in many countries. More than 1 billion people live with unreliable electricity. Even in our developed countries, we tend to ban lithium batteries, and hiLyte is the best solution to provide electricity without any harm for the environment.
To enable a transition to renewable energies, our society needs clean and efficient technologies. As a result, a new generation of researchers and engineers in this field must arrive, and it starts at school and at home! We developed educational kits for kids that allows them to produce their own electricity with different components in a fun way!
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These kits would be rewarded in some perks.
OUR DEVELOPMENT:
35’000 raised: building of a mold to produce the batteries
70’000 raised: production of batteries, consummables and training employees.
100’000 raised: deployment of the sales
150’000 raised: monitoring the sales during the first 6 months
Thank you.
