In addition, a large amount of capital has been invested in projects to expand the production of lithium-ion batteries, which has increased the pressure on other competitors to rely solely on price competition. The lithium-ion cost curve is the sum of other technologies for various applications, but it is mainly used for electric vehicles and electronic products, so it cannot accurately reflect the cost of lithium-ion batteries used in practical applications.

　　David Bradwell, co-founder and senior vice president of commercialization and chief technology officer of flow battery manufacturer Ambri, said that the cost of utility-scale lithium-ion batteries has some unique characteristics that are not found in many lithium-ion cost curve forecasts. Fully reflect.

　　Bradwell pointed out that lithium-ion batteries are also susceptible to raw material risks because they use metallic cobalt, and their price has doubled recently. Nickel can also be used as a substitute, but this trade-off is that it will reduce the cycle life of lithium-ion batteries. "This is no problem for the application of electric vehicles, but it is not suitable for grid applications." Bradwell said.

　　Other energy storage technologies

　　MIT’s research paper mentions many types of energy storage technologies, such as compressed air energy storage and kinetic energy storage, but the technology considered as the main competitor of lithium-ion batteries is flow battery technology.

　　Flow battery stores and generates electric current through the exchange of electrolytes. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries can achieve almost unlimited charge and discharge cycles. By adjusting the size of the container that contains the electrolyte, the flow battery can be expanded and contracted more easily than lithium-ion batteries to meet discharge requirements.

　　However, unlike lithium-ion batteries, various flow batteries are still undergoing fierce technological competition. The return efficiency of a flow battery is much lower than that of a lithium ion battery because of the parasitic load of the pump required to move the electrolyte between the electrolytic cells. However, the main advantage of flow batteries is that they can provide a longer discharge duration by enlarging the electrolyte storage cell. Nevertheless, flow batteries are still difficult to gain wide acceptance in the market.

　　"This is definitely an uphill battle." said Paul Ferrera, business development manager for flow battery manufacturer PrimusPower. He pointed out that lithium-ion batteries can be discharged continuously for four hours and are adapting to grid-scale applications. He said that for many applications (such as substation switching or energy conversion from the peak of solar power generation to the rise in the evening), flow batteries are a more viable option.

　　"The biggest advantage of flow batteries is the low cost of raw materials." Ferrera said. PrimusPower has reduced the raw material cost of the zinc-bromine flow battery to US$50-60/kWh, while the raw material cost of the lithium-ion battery is about US$125-150/kWh.

　　Because Primus's flow battery technology does not require ion exchange membranes and can use a single flow circuit for electrolyte exchange, the unique flow battery claimed by Ferrera has the same cost as lithium-ion batteries. "The price of our flow batteries can compete with lithium-ion batteries." He said.

　　Process advantage

　　Ferrera said that he believes that as future production and manufacturing become more efficient, flow battery technology will quickly surpass lithium-ion batteries on a cost basis. He said that the flow battery will not reduce the utilization rate and reduce the need to replace the battery cost, nor will it reduce the construction cost of the project, thereby reducing the life cycle cost of the energy storage project.

　　Ferrera said that the flow battery is particularly suitable for projects designed to help solve the "duck curve" problem because it can store large amounts of electricity during the day and release the electricity to the limit during peak hours at night. He said, "Our flow battery is very suitable for solving the duck curve problem. It can implement 100% discharge and unlimited cycles."