Thanks Simon for that detailed response. Not filling the...

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10/08/18

08:46

Post #: 34849362
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Originally posted by SimonHackett ↑

Our typical residential customers are what I'd call 'high end' residential - they see the merits of the batteries as being about more than sticker price.

The weight is a challenge but its manageable and our installers manage it, usually using some creative lifting devices and/or 'sled' approaches to getting the batteries where they need to go.

Its interesting to note that in developing countries the weight is consistently seen as a large positive because its a deterrent to theft, compared to lead-acid batteries (which are in fact heavier for a given number of kWh than Redflow batteries, but they come in lots of small units wired in series, so each separate battery is lighter, and hence easier to run off with)

The notion of pouring the electrolyte in later is often suggested to us. The electrolyte is around 140kg of the total mass. The concept is not new - its done with some forms of lead-acid batteries that can be shipped dry and filled 'on site'.

The reason Redflow doesn't do this has a few aspects to it.

The batteries can only be tested in the factory by being filled first. We do this, and we run a detailed set of battery test cycles in the factory, to ensure that our battery (which has much more 'to it' than a conventional 'dumb box of chemicals') is working properly before it leaves.

We need to do that full integrated battery system test, and then we treat the battery as a sealed unit from then on.

If we were to ship 'dry' we would have to empty the electrolyte out again in the factory, and that creates its own set of new problems.

The core issue in this context is actually about responsibility and warranty.

Our battery requires the electrolyte to be free from significant contamination. If the unit is drained and then re-filled on the other side of the world, we can't guarantee that there was no contaminant introduced in the re-filling process (that would happen out of Redflow's direct control). If a battery then fails in the field due to contamination, whose fault is it? How do we tell? What does that do to the handling of warranty?

So the view held about this issue is that it is much better to operate our battery as a sealed device - as its designed to be operated - once it leaves the factory, tested and ready to go - and to just accept that it weighs what it weighs.

In the flow battery world, this device is disruptively small and light - really...!

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Thanks Simon for that detailed response.
Not filling the batteries onsite now makes perfect sense to me.

Years ago, you are the reason we first invested in RFX.
Although I've had my doubts on the journey down to this level, recently we brought 4x more than we previously had and seeing your 3 posts this morning certainly builds confidence that we made the right choice to hold and buy more.

RFX Price at posting: 8.9¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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0 Great analysis

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