(Invited) Techno-Economic Analysis of Batteries and Key Considerations for Performance Comparisons

Energy storage and conversion technologies range from those currently in widespread application to those that exist mainly in the research laboratories around the world. Evaluating technologies against each other requires unbiased and defensible tools and metrics even within the same class of storage technology (e.g. transportation batteries). Techno-economic modeling is a powerful tool that can be used to compare both across platforms as well as within [1 ,2]. This talk will focus on electrochemical energy storage in the form of enclosed, hybrid, and flow batteries for both transportation and stationary applications. Key performance indicators will be discussed and values compared for existing technologies against promising new chemistries under development. The role of the analysis framework will be highlighted particularly in light of considering market size and maturity. Finally, comparison to other non-battery technologies will be presented.

[1] K. G. Gallagher, S. Goebel, T. Greszler, M. Mathias, W. Oelerich, D. Eroglu, V. Srinivasan “Quantifying the promise of lithium-air batteries for electric vehicles” Energy & Environmental Science, 7 (5), 1555 - 1563 (2014)

[2] R. M. Darling, K. G. Gallagher, J. Kowalski, S. Ha, F. Brushett “Pathways to low-cost electrochemical energy storage: a comparison of aqueous and nonaqueous flow batteries” Energy & Environmental Science, 7 (11), 3459 – 3477 (2014)