the research consultancy for energy technologies

Search results for: “lithium”

  • Battery degradation: what causes capacity fade?

    Battery degradation: what causes capacity fade?

    Lithium ion battery degradation rates vary 2-20% per 1,000 cycles. And lithium ion batteries last from 500 – 20,000 cycles. We have aggregated 7M data-points from laboratory tests, in order to quantify what drives battery degradation. LFP chemistry, low C-rates, stable temperatures and limited cycling all help.

    Read more

  • Grid-scale battery costs: the economics?

    Grid-scale battery costs: the economics?

    Grid-scale batteries are envisaged to store up excess renewable electricity and re-release it later. Grid-scale battery costs are modeled at 20c/kWh in our base case, which is the ‘storage spread’ that a LFP lithium ion battery must charge to earn a 10% IRR off c$1,000/kW installed capex costs. Other batteries can be compared in the…

    Read more

  • 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…

    Read more

  • Electric vehicle: battery life?

    Electric vehicle: battery life?

    Electric vehicle battery life will realistically need to reach 1,500 cycles for the average passenger vehicle, 2,000-3,000 cycles after reflecting a margin of safety for real-world statistical distributions, and 3,000-6,000 cycles for higher-use commercial vehicles. This means lithium ion batteries may be harder to displace with novel chemistries?

    Read more

  • Commodity prices: metals, materials and chemicals?

    Commodity prices: metals, materials and chemicals?

    Annual commodity prices are tabulated in this database for 70 materials commodities; covering steel prices, other metal prices, chemicals prices, polymer prices, all with data going back to 2012. 2022 was a record year for commodities. The average material commodity traded 25% above its 10-year average and 60% of all material commodities made ten-year highs.

    Read more

  • Pumped hydro: generation profile?

    Pumped hydro: generation profile?

    Pumped hydro facilities can provide long-duration storage, but the utilization rate is low, and thus the costs are high, according to today’s case study within the Snowy hydro complex in Australia. Tumut-3 can store energy for weeks-months, then generate 1.8 GW for 40+ hours, but it is only charging/dischaging at 12% of its nameplate capacity.

    Read more

  • Cemvita Factory: microbial breakthroughs?

    Cemvita Factory: microbial breakthroughs?

    Cemvita is a private biotech company, based in Houston, founded in 2017. It has isolated and/or engineered more than 150 microbial strains, aiming to valorize waste, convert CO2 to useful feedstocks, mine scarce metals (e.g., direct lithium extraction) and “brew” a variant of gold hydrogen from depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. This data-file is our Cemvita Factory…

    Read more

  • 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…

    Read more

  • 24M: semi-solid battery breakthrough?

    24M: semi-solid battery breakthrough?

    Semi-solid electrodes are aimed at “dramatically reducing” costs of lithium ion batteries, with 70-100% higher energy density, plus better safety and reliability, for use in battery storage and electric vehicles. 24M has a moat and is licensing technology to Freyr and Volkswagen.

    Read more

  • Nostromo: thermal energy storage breakthrough?

    Nostromo: thermal energy storage breakthrough?

    Nostromo is commercializing a thermal energy storage system, for commercial buildings in hot climates, where AC can comprise 40-70% of total energy use. It scores highly on our patent framework and can be an interesting alternative to lithium batteries.

    Read more

Content by Category