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https://unauthorised investment adv...thium-will-last-and-which-tech-will-take-over
What about energy storage?
While the EV space is firmly dominated by lithium-ion for the moment, stationary storage is more diverse.
Stationary storage systems are big batteries designed to store excess power from the power grid — including from renewable sources — for use during expensive peak demand periods.
There are a couple of battery technologies vying for top spot, but the spotlight is largely on vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs).
“The area where you are likely to see far more variation in battery technologies is stationary storage applications where you don’t need the light-weight benefits of a lithium-based technology,” Mr Miller said.
“While we still expect lithium-ion to play a big role in this market there will be several other technologies that compete for market share in this space.
“In particular vanadium flow seems a strong contender for stationary storage but there are several steps the industry has to overcome before it can reach wide-spread commercialisation.”
Benchmark predicts that by 2028, 50 per cent of the burgeoning stationary storage market will be lithium-ion, and 25 per cent will be VRFBs.
VRFBs are regarded as a safer alternative to lithium-ion and better suited to large-scale applications.
They come at a higher upfront cost but have a far longer life compared to lithium-ion batteries.
“For stationary storage, vanadium flow is very interesting because of the life-cycle advantages and the fact that the input raw materials can be reused,” Mr Miller said.
China leans towards vanadium
While lithium-ion is now the favoured technology in China, the Asian powerhouse is looking at several types of batteries as it works out the best option for grid-scale energy storage.
David Gillam, the boss of Mastermines – a specialist company that has strong ties to China and helps Australian miners with marketing and securing off-take deals, says Chinese players are looking in every direction.
“We sort of have an idea that they may be moving more towards vanadium for big installations but there’s not enough proof yet that that’s the case,” he told *earlier in October.
“It’s very early days and it’s typical of China, they’re going to test everything.”
Sodium is a very cheap and abundant alternative to lithium.
Sodium-ion batteries would be physically heavier than lithium-ion, which makes them an unlikely replacement in electric car batteries