The ZrV 2 and Zr(V 0 . 7 5 Ni 0 . 2 5 ) 2 systems crystallize in the Laves-phase MgCu 2 (C15) crystal structure. These materials have been prepared using a simple mechanical alloying (MA) followed by annealing. The amorphous phase forms directly from the starting mixture of the elements, without other phase formation. Heating the MA samples at 1070 K for 1 h resulted in the creation of ordered ZrV 2 -type alloys. In mechanically alloyed and annealed ZrV 2 and Zr(V 0 . 7 5 Ni 0 . 2 5 ) 2 materials discharge capacities of 0 and 100 mAhg - 1 were obtained, respectively. The electronic structure has been studied by the tight binding version of the linear muffin-tin orbital method in the atomic sphere approximation (TB-LMTO ASA). The Ni impurities cause a charge transfer from the Zr and V atoms to the Ni atom, the valance band is wider and the density of electronic states at the Fermi level decreases by about 30%.