Ralf Günther knows how to keep annoying discussions about 2G or 3G at work at bay. “With me, every employee is tested for Corona every day before starting work,” says the boss and owner of Liofit GmbH in Kamenz. He ordered 1,250 tests straight away, and they are enough for his 30 people for a while.
As resolutely as the 63-year-old faces the pandemic, he is just as determined as an entrepreneur. “We have been repairing the big and small problems of all e-bike batteries with a lot of love and passion since 2013”, promises Liofit on its website. And whoever has visited the inconspicuous workshop with its familiar working atmosphere has no doubt. Not even in the numbers: 6,000 inexpensive repairs to over 750 different lithium-ion batteries every year – also for electric scooters and Segways.
The other and growing pillar of the company, which started in 2013, is recycling. And there are also a few hundred self-made, rechargeable batteries in small series. Most of the orders come from Germany, including France, Austria, Spain, Great Britain, the Benelux countries and Switzerland.
“You can change cells everywhere, but only we repair electronics,” says the boss proudly. Word gets around. Battery repairs are not regulated by law. A set of rules is now being fine-tuned to increase collection and recycling rates in order to recover valuable raw materials. Used and defective batteries are still being melted down in the blast furnace, which is cost-intensive and energy-intensive, but the recycling rate is limited at 30 percent. Only copper, cobalt and nickel are extracted and the slag is used in road construction.
Günther knows a more sustainable way: intact cables, circuit boards and other components are given a second life in new batteries. Defective components are recycled – for example, housings are shredded and then added to new aluminum or plastic shells as a 60 percent admixture. “If I get a new one out of two batteries, I can have the other one recycled at no extra cost,” Günther has calculated. In the end, manganese, lithium, iron, aluminum and graphite also remained in the material cycle – a processing rate of over 90 percent. In addition, there is less CO2 than when burning, and even the remaining charge of the batteries can be fed into the power grid. The chemist with a doctorate usually meets with enthusiasm. There are reservations “only among those who earn more with new goods and lose money when batteries are repaired”.
Born in Meeran and with a doctorate in chemistry, he is electrified by this idea. His arguments also convinced the federal and state governments and gave the innovative project a funding check for a good 2.8 million euros. The background to this is a multi-billion dollar program to set up a battery cell production facility in the EU.
The challenge with mechanical recycling: the complete unloading of the cell packets before shredding. The shredded electronic scrap is also used as a raw material for new lithium-ion batteries. An Achilles heel is opening the welded batteries with the charged cell packs. Günther says he is talking to Saxon universities and robot builders about this. The principle could also be of interest to lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners, and the demand was huge.
“If we have found an economical way to safe, automated dismantling in two or three months, we will build a dismantling and unloading center in Lusatia,” explains the ex-IT boss of the former pharmaceutical plant in Dresden. Recycling fits more into an ex-coal area than an authority, says Günther, alluding to political plans for structural change. “In any case, subsidies should only help to achieve things that would have been done.” He wanted to take the population with him and not let fear and resistance arise in the first place.
The father of two, who commutes between Dresden and Kamenz every day, has long since arranged his successor. Son Rico (31) is already in charge of the operational business and development. “I promised to accompany the project until 2026, but I won’t leave him a mountain of debt for a crazy idea.” In 2013, the year it was founded, the then three-man business had a turnover of 8,000 euros. Seven years later it was a good 1.5 million euros, almost 200 times as much. Liofit – the name says it all – wants to grow to around 100 employees in the next four years. “I’ve never had a shortage of staff,” he says. He leads a “goal-oriented regime without a lot of pressure”. People can decide for themselves when and how they work, the result is decisive.
The smart workforce also surprises him with in-house developments after work: including test stands and protective electronics. Günther relies on personal responsibility and rewards with bonuses. Liofit is committed to the integration of foreigners and is a sponsor of the Glückskleelauf for children with cancer. sz
The business award “Saxony’s Entrepreneur of the Year” and the founder award “Saxony founds – Start-up 2022” are an initiative of “Sächsische Zeitung”, “Freie Presse”, “Leipziger Volkszeitung” and the MDR as well as Volkswagen Sachsen, the auditing and tax consulting company KPMG, the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and the health insurance company AOK. www.unternehmerpreis.de