Graphite Price, page-755

For the vanadium lovers.

Non-lithium-ion batteries on course to exceed 10% of energy storage market by 2025

While current battery technology is dominated by lithium-ion chemistries in applications that include consumer electronics, electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary storage, IDTechEx expects the non-lithium-ion battery sector to grow at a fast pace over the next 10 years.

“The importance of non-lithium battery chemistries is expected to grow considerably, especially in the stationary energy storage sector,” the United Kingdom-based company said. IDTechEx estimates that the market share of non-lithium battery chemistries in stationary energy storage will reach more than 10% by 2025 compared with less than 5% in 2021.

“This opens up an opportunity for battery chemistries, and energy storage technologies, that utilize lower-cost [and] more widely available materials,” IDTechEx said, citing vanadium-based reduction-oxidation (redox) flow batteries and chemistries based on zinc, iron and other low-cost materials.

While high-strength steel accounts for around 90% of vanadium consumption, the energy storage sector is expected to see additional vanadium demand in the coming years.

Vanadium redox flow batteries employ a vanadium electrolyte liquid solution to store and release energy. They are seen as the main alternative to lithium-ion batteries because they have a longer duration, do not degrade with cycling and are non-flammable and non-explosive.

Fastmarkets’ assessment for vanadium pentoxide, 98% V2O5 min, in-whs Rotterdam was at $12.00-12.50 per lb on March 25, stable over the past two weeks after a sharp rise that started at the end February.