Quote:
"Anyone care to share why these alternatives are not fully up and running and if so why not? Especially as they claim the zinc alternative lasts longer and silicon 10 times cheaper ??"
Hi 'denisd' you need to understand that you're trying to compare apples to oranges and also tangerines.
Each of these other energy storage technologies you've mentioned are applicable to completely different energy "markets" and a ..VERY.. brief precis, would be as follows.
Redflow's ZnBr 'Flow Batteries' are toxic and corrosive (sloshing) liquid filled plastic boxes weighing nearly 300 Kilos apiece with strictly limited rates of charge/discharge capability and limited operating temperature ranges which restricts them to completely stationary installations eg, homes, small business, Telco towers for the storage of (usually) renewable energy.
1414-Degrees technology relies upon using (typically) a (very large) solar furnace 'melting' (typically cubic metre/metres of) Silica at a temperature of 1414 degrees centigrade and then using that stored latent heat to drive something like a Stirling Engine to produce electricity with an efficiency of around 30% or thermophotovoltaic cells (in lieu of solar cells) to directly generate electricity from the then re-radiated heat.
Neither of these other technologies can compete with Lithium for its lightness, portability, density of power storage capability, scalability, from tiny button cells right up to very, very large Megawatt Grid-Scale Batteries, and not to forget of course the many, many $US Billions that have already been invested into the technology in the tooling up of factories for its use worldwide, and of course by Wall Street.
Each technology of course has its own list of pros and cons, and hence, as the old saying goes it's 'horses for courses' but, broadly speaking, Lithium can handle everything from the fastest of dry hard tracks to the very slowest and wettest of mud-larks running.
Now if you want to know more detail, 'denisd' then you need to pull up a comfy chair and do a ..lot.. of in depth reading yourself. Unfortunately, there's still no alternative/quick way, to put an old and wise head onto young shoulders or, as my wife likes to point out, "There are no short cuts, to any place worth going."
