the research consultancy for energy technologies

Batteries

  • Thermal energy storage: heat of the moment?

    Thermal energy storage: heat of the moment?

    Thermal energy storage will outcompete other batteries and hydrogen for avoiding renewable curtailments and integrating more solar? Overlooked advantages are discussed in this 21-page report, plus a fast-evolving company landscape. What implications for solar, gas and industrial incumbents?

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  • Renewable grids: solar, wind and grid-scale battery sizing?

    Renewable grids: solar, wind and grid-scale battery sizing?

    How much wind, solar and/or batteries are required to supply a stable power output, 24-hours per day, 7-days per week, or at even longer durations? This data-file stress-tests different scenarios, with each 1MW of average load requiring at least 3.5MW of solar and 3.5MW of lithium ion batteries, for a total system cost of at…

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  • Thermal energy storage: leading companies?

    Thermal energy storage: leading companies?

    This data-file is a screen of thermal energy storage companies, developing systems that can absorb excess renewable electricity, heat up a storage medium, and then re-release the heat later, for example as high-grade steam or electricity. The space is fast-evolving and competitive, with 17 leading companies progressing different solutions.

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  • Redox flow batteries: for the duration?

    Redox flow batteries: for the duration?

    Redox flow batteries have 6-24 hour durations and require 15-20c/kWh storage spreads. They will increasingly compete with lithium ion batteries in grid-scale storage. Does this unlock a step-change for peak renewables penetration? Or create 3-30x upside for total global Vanadium demand? This 15-page note is our outlook for redox flow batteries.

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  • Electrochemistry: battery voltage and the Nernst Equation?

    Electrochemistry: battery voltage and the Nernst Equation?

    What determines the Voltage of an electrochemical cell, such as a lithium ion battery, redox flow battery, a hydrogen fuel cell, an electrolyser or an electrowinning plant? This note explains electrochemical voltages, from first principles, starting with Standard Potentials and the Nernst Equation.

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  • Redox flow batteries: costs and capex?

    Redox flow batteries: costs and capex?

    Redox flow battery costs are built up in this data-file, especially for Vanadium redox flow. In our base case, a 6-hour battery that charges and discharges daily needs a storage spread of 20c/kWh to earn a 10% IRR on $3,000/kW of up-front capex. Longer-duration redox flow batteries start to out-compete lithium ion batteries for grid-scale…

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  • Battery cathode active materials and manufacturing?

    Battery cathode active materials and manufacturing?

    Lithium ion batteries famously have cathodes containing lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, aluminium and/or iron phosphate. But how are these cathode active materials manufactured? This data-file gathers specific details from technical papers and patents by leading companies such as BASF, LG, CATL, Panasonic, Solvay and Arkema.

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  • Solvay: lithium ion battery binders and additives?

    Solvay: lithium ion battery binders and additives?

    Solvay is a chemicals company with growing exposure to battery materials, especially the PVDF binders that hold together active materials in the electrodes. But also increasingly in electrolyte solvents, salts and additives. Interestingly, our patent review finds optimizations of this overall system can improve the longevity and energy density of batteries, which may also lead…

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  • Lithium ion batteries: energy density?

    Lithium ion batteries: energy density?

    Today’s lithium ion batteries have an energy density of 200-300 Wh/kg. I.e., they contain 4kg of material per kWh of energy storage. Technology gains can see lithium ion batteries’ energy densities doubling to 500Wh/kg in the 2030s, trebling to 750 Wh/kg by the 2040s, and the best possible energy densities are around 1,250 Wh/kg. This…

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  • Electric vehicles: breaking the ICE?

    Electric vehicles: breaking the ICE?

    Electric vehicles are a world-changing technology, 2-6x more efficient than ICEs, but how quickly will they ramp up to re-shape global oil demand? This 14-page note finds surprising ‘stickiness’. Even as EV sales explode to 200M units by 2050 (2x all-time peak ICE sales), the global ICE fleet may only fall by 40%. Will LT…

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