Since 2016, one man claims to have been living entirely off-grid, powering his home with energy stored in more than 650 salvaged laptop batteries. His DIY system has attracted attention for its creativity, but it also raises some questions.
According to the French site Newsly, the setup began with a handful of solar panels, an old forklift battery, and cheap inverters. As the story goes, he gradually collected over a thousand individual lithium-ion cells from discarded laptop batteries, tested and sorted them by hand, and installed them in racks using thick copper wires. The core of the energy system is a shed about 50 meters from his home, where the batteries and solar panels are housed.
He says the system has run smoothly for nearly a decade—no fires, no battery failures. Since adding 24 solar panels (each reportedly 440 watts), he claims it’s even more efficient and dependable. He also notes that his phone batteries have never failed him, which he takes as proof that reused electronics, when handled carefully, can be both reliable and sustainable.
But while the ingenuity is impressive, not everyone’s fully convinced. For starters, managing lithium-ion cells—especially ones pulled from aging electronics—poses safety risks that even trained professionals take seriously. The article itself acknowledges the hazards, noting that many of the batteries were “on the edge” of being unusable. And although he emphasizes safety precautions like using thick cables and keeping the battery bank in a separate shed, no third-party verification or technical audit has confirmed the long-term safety or efficiency of his setup.
There’s also the question of scalability. What works for a single, tech-savvy hobbyist might not be feasible for the average household, especially when collecting, testing, and configuring hundreds of batteries takes months (or even years) of hands-on work.
Still, the story reflects a growing interest in repurposing e-waste and rethinking how we approach energy independence. It may not be the perfect model for everyone, but it certainly starts a conversation about innovation, sustainability—and the limits of both.
