Mapleview Energy has been selected to participate in the Fostering Circularity program run by the Ontario Clean Technology Industry Association (OCTIA) and supported by the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). The program supports Ontario cleantech companies working to advance circular economy and net-zero solutions in the plastics, construction materials, and innovative battery sectors.
About the Fostering Circularity program
OCTIA's Fostering Circularity initiative is designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of clean technologies that contribute to a circular economy. The program provides funding and advisory support to help small and medium-sized enterprises advance their technologies from development through to market readiness.
Backed by NRC-IRAP, the program connects participating companies with technical and business advisory services, funding to support project execution, and access to OCTIA's network of cleantech industry partners across Ontario. NRC-IRAP's involvement brings decades of experience supporting Canadian innovation, with a focus on helping companies take promising technologies from proof of concept through to commercial deployment.
What the funding supports
Each project under the Fostering Circularity program can receive up to $25,000 in labour funding, not including taxes. Through this support, Mapleview Energy will advance its battery repurposing capabilities across the following areas:
- Battery repurposing capability development: Expanding our capacity to source, test, grade, and prepare retired EV batteries for second-life applications, including the development of standardized procedures and quality assurance protocols.
- Advisory support: Access to NRC-IRAP's industrial technology advisors and OCTIA's cleantech network to inform our commercialization strategy.
- Pilot deployment: Supporting the deployment of our first commercial battery energy storage system, which will demonstrate the viability of second-life battery storage in a real operating environment.
This investment recognizes that the transition to electric vehicles will generate a growing volume of retired batteries that still have significant useful life remaining. Building the infrastructure and processes to capture this value is both an environmental and economic opportunity for Ontario.
The circular economy case for second-life batteries
Electric vehicle batteries are typically retired from automotive use when they reach approximately 70-80% of their original capacity. At this point, they no longer meet the demanding requirements of vehicle propulsion, but they remain well-suited for stationary energy storage applications where the performance bar is different.
Repurposing these batteries for energy storage extends their useful life by up to 10 years, delays the need for recycling, reduces demand for virgin materials, and can save up to 100 kg of CO2 per kWh compared to manufacturing new battery cells. It is a practical application of circular economy principles that delivers measurable environmental and economic benefits.
OCTIA's focus on the innovative battery sector as one of the program's three priority areas reflects the growing importance of battery circularity in Ontario's cleantech landscape. As EV adoption accelerates, the province needs scalable solutions for managing end-of-life batteries in a way that captures remaining value and minimizes environmental impact.
Building Ontario's second-life battery infrastructure
Ontario is well positioned to lead in second-life battery utilization. The province has a growing EV market that will generate an increasing supply of retired batteries, an established automotive manufacturing ecosystem with relevant technical expertise, and strong demand for energy storage from commercial and industrial electricity users facing rising costs and reliability concerns.
Mapleview Energy's Fostering Circularity initiative aims to build the bridge between these supply and demand sides by developing the testing, grading, and integration capabilities needed to convert retired EV batteries into reliable energy storage systems.
Looking ahead
The support from OCTIA and NRC-IRAP accelerates Mapleview Energy's path to commercial deployment. With this funding, we can invest in the people and expertise needed to scale our battery repurposing operations while preparing for our first pilot deployment at Castellan Farm in Fergus, Ontario.