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There are in general three types of batteries for stationary storage and E-Vehicles and E-Mobility, new systems are developed continuously.

1  Lead-Acid Batteries

http://www.energie-experten.org/erneuerbare-energien/photovoltaik/stromspeicher/bleiakku.html.These lead-acid batteries are using liquids or gel and have been the common batteries to store current:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery

 

 

2  Lithium-Ion-Batteries (based on Lithium, an alkali metal), mostly for E-Vehicles

Lithium-Ion-Batteries:  Already in 2012 Siemens developed the “Siestorage”, for home applications in a container of 6 metres. It is only one of the many pilots from countless companies worldwide to store current based on Lithium-Ion-Batteries. This “Siestorage” stored due to the “old” article from 2012 500 kw hours (i.e. demand for 50 families, Wirtschaft – Das IHK Magazin für München und Oberbayern – 09/2012). Now the life-span of Lithium-Ion batteries is said to be lower than those of redox-flow-batteries http://green.wiwo.de/batterie-aus-kunststoff-jenaer-forscher-entwickeln-guenstigen-redox-flow-speicher/.

Lithium, “the white gold” is an alkali metal and gets world wide rarer and rarer. Around 70 per cent of world wide Lithium comes from Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. There is enormous demand worldwide for Lithium-Ion batteries, which are used world-wide for planes and E-mobility and for E-vehicles as in buses and cars and in other devices. According to an engineer and owner of a specialised company in this field, the danger of these batteries does not come from the used chemicals: “The problem here is not necessarily the chemistry, but not adequately implemented battery monitoring by an electronic”.

http://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/autoindustrie/teslas-gigafactory-droht-zum-start-ein-lithium-problem-a-1068121.html#ref=plista Tesla constructs a huge factory in Nevada to produce Lithium-Ion-Batteries for a planned production of 500,000 E-vehicles in 2020 and some 10,000 blocks for home applications to store sunlight’s energy as in the Tesla Powerwall. The problem for Tesla seems that they did not secure delivery contracts for the planned huge amount which the huge factory would need each year: around 24,000 tons of Lithium hydroxid. Worldwide in the last time only 50,000 tons were available. Due to FT / Financial Times mentioned in the above article, the big producers FMC, Albemarle and the SQM from Chile did not want to sell Lithium for the low price, Tesla suggested.

 

3 Redox-Flow-Batteries

Redox-Flow-Batteries (based on a fluid): These Wet cell batteries or fluid batteries are an interesting concept for stationary power storage – were larger capacities are not necessarily reflected in costs! These are not for E-vehicles – except possibly trucks – due to the excessive weight in relation to capacity: In 2013 inventions from three German Fraunhofer Institutes, Redox-Flow-Batteries were calculated for around 100,000 Euro! http://green.wiwo.de/energiewende-forschern-gelingt-durchbruch-bei-stromspeichern/

June 2015 http://green.wiwo.de/stromspeicher-redox-flow-anlagen-sollen-die-haushalte-erobern/: The costs were calculated for final users with 17,000 Euro by Schmidt Energy Systems from Schmidt-Gruppe, Freudenstadt, EverFlow Compact Storage.

http://green.wiwo.de/fluessiger-stromspeicher-erste-redox-flow-batterie-aus-organischen-materialien/ 

07 Oct 2015: This article writes that Harvard-Engineers’ school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, sold royalty to European producers. The new redox-flow-battery is neither flammable nor toxic. The needed materials are cheap and available in quantities, not based on expensive Vanadium for example from Imergy Power Systems in USA. The batteries were developed for storing wind or solar power.

Please see as well: http://green.wiwo.de/batterie-aus-kunststoff-jenaer-forscher-entwickeln-guenstigen-redox-flow-speicher/ Redox-Flow-Batteries are also known as fluid batteries, best for decentralised storage of current. They are regarded as almost indestructible, robust and not flammable with a far higher efficiency as well. It seems to be a topic of high interest, since an essential difference is that the capacity does not necessarily determine the price. But here really only the performance is important for the costs! At relatively low costs one can stand new larger tanks, were the fluid is stored and when demand increases even bigger tanks can be built.   These are for stationary storage, not for E-vehicles – due to the efficiency in relation to volume.

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