How do Vanadium batteries even compete in the market ?
I have written about the economics before, $4/lb or $9/kg of Chinese Vanadium Pentoxide makes $70/kWh in just the electrolyte cost of the Vanadium Flow batteries, this cost excludes converting the ore into battery grade electrolyte, tanks, pumps, pipes and cell stack (which adds up quickly by the way), the total cost of the system can sit well above $200/kWh depending on the specs of the battery. Now if you want an LFP battery, its landed cost would be around $120/kWh. That's a 40% discount !! So the obvious question arises, who buys such an expensive battery ? And how does it make any financial sense to buy a VFB ? If you consider the upfront cost of VFBs they can never be competitive- You can say that LFP degrades and VFB doesn't, so over a long period of time, VFB would be cheaper, but VFB takes a lot more space, and that cost has to be accounted for, I have run some financial models but VFBs can never be competitive with LFPs, let alone much cheaper Sodium Ion batteries ab...