The future lithium battery will become the most competitive in the field of energy storage

Imperial college London, ICL） Researchers have developed a prediction model that can be used to determine between 2015 and 2050, 12 different applications, the cost of 9 kinds of the life of the electric power storage technology. Came to the conclusion that the model of lithium ion battery cell technology will be the cheapest in decades. The research results have been published in the journal of Joule.

the paper's senior author Iain Staffell think: & other; We found that the lithium ion battery to follow the development of crystalline silicon solar panels. Lithium ion battery was expensive, only for niche applications, but they are now in the number of large-scale manufacturing, as a decline in the cost of its speed is much faster than other storage technology. ”

ICL model combined with more than 30 peer-reviewed research data. Studies have shown that at present the cheapest energy storage mechanism is combined with hydro pumped storage. Water pump through the spare energy to a higher elevation reservoir, and then when you need to release the gravitational potential energy of the water. However, as time goes on, the cost of the pumped storage did not reduce, while the cost of lithium-ion battery will continue to decline. This makes the latter will be 2030 years later, the best choice for most applications.

lead author Oliver, Schmidt said that personally, he has been skeptical of lithium ion battery energy storage, but when it comes to the comprehensive cost of storage, lithium ion batteries cost reduction speed will win its significant advantages. In the future, although the researchers cannot predict how the new material or new technology will affect the trend of the market, but they hope that the model can be used to test various technical cost and performance, and to help industry and policy makers to make wise investment decisions.