3 ms·
You can continue to charge more electrolyte for as long as you can supply more, & stash the charged electrolyte somewhere. It's not a unit the way a lithium ion
by ip26 8y ago
You can continue to charge more electrolyte for as long as you can supply more, & stash the charged electrolyte somewhere. It's not a unit the way a lithium ion battery is.
- StavrosK 8y agoOh wow, really? You can just disconnect the electrolyte and store it and it will stay charged? What's the discharge rate on that like?
- marcosdumay 8y agoIt doesn't stay charged. You push the more active reactants into it, it gets charged while it reacts the reactants into the less active version. It is like a diesel powered generator, where you push diesel and oxygen into it, it creates power while it reacts them both. The difference is that flow batteries also do the reverse reaction, so you can get the original reactants back. About how long it will stay charged, it does not discharge like a normal battery, but active reactants have a shelf-life.
- StavrosK 8y agoI see, thank you. With those properties, I can see why it would be ideal for home energy storage.
- marcosdumay 8y agoCurrently, they don't look great for many applications. But on principle they should be the best option for any stationary application. What we are seeing here is that real vs. possible gap getting smaller.
- dragontamer 8y agoNot quite. Lithium Ion is cheaper at home-energy scale. Flow batteries are more expensive and complex. So they are ideal for utility-scale projects only. When you're powering an entire neighborhood or city with a single battery, you'd probably rather make a Flow battery rather than a million Lithium Ion batteries hooked up together.
- kjeetgill 8y agoHuh, so like a power ring buffer.