Analyst Report: Upgrade for access StorEn Technologies: Big Batteries, Big Risks

Charging Up Climate Change Solutions

I invest a lot in startups innovating to fight climate change, and the term “lithium-ion battery” comes up pretty often when I look at energy startups. Maybe you’re familiar with it. 

Lithium-ion batteries are used widely in electronics, electric vehicles, and energy storage systems. They’ve become a dominant technology because they’re small and can deliver electricity quickly. But they have a major drawback — their performance drastically decreases over time. After a few years of using your phone, you probably realize that its battery doesn’t last as long as it used to. That’s normal — lithium batteries only last three to six years. 

And while it’s easy to replace your phone, the problem becomes really expensive and polluting when we use large lithium-ion batteries for residential and grid energy storage. One example of these large-scale batteries, the Tesla Powerwall, weighs at minimum 214 pounds and costs at least $11,500. Changing such large lithium-ion batteries every few years requires a lot of lithium. And the process for extracting lithium is very pollution-heavy. But the problems don’t stop there. Recycling these batteries is also very complicated. On top of that, they are highly toxic and can catch fire easily.

We need alternatives to lithium-ion batteries for large energy storage. And that’s what StorEn Technologies is providing with its vanadium flow batteries.

StorEn’s vanadium batteries have two tanks of electrolyte solution, which store the electrical energy. The electric current travels from one tank to the other and is harvested for use using a cell stack. This system helps prevent discharge — the loss of electric energy — even when the battery isn’t actively supplying electricity. And unlike lithium-ion batteries, their energy storage capacity doesn’t decrease over time. After 30 years of use, vanadium flow batteries still store energy like they’re fresh out of the factory. And customers can use every bit of energy in the battery with no degradation. 

The long lifespan of StorEn’s batteries makes them way cheaper in the long run than lithium-ion batteries, even if they are initially slightly more expensive. And unlike lithium-ion batteries, they are also easy to repair. Each component can easily be replaced if needed. 

Vanadium flow batteries are bigger than lithium-ion batteries because of their mechanics. But from both a cost and environmental perspective, StorEn’s batteries are a more recyclable, non-toxic, and safer solution than lithium-ion for stationary systems. 

So is StorEn Technologies the vanadium flow battery company you should invest in?

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