Joule
Volume 4, Issue 3, 18 March 2020, Pages 597-614
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Article
Asymptotic Cost Analysis of Intercalation Lithium-Ion Systems for Multi-hour Duration Energy Storage

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.01.007Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Increasing electrode thicknesses reduced the balance of cell costs of Li-ion batteries

  • Bobbin cells can have electrodes thicker than stacked pouch cell electrodes

  • Bobbin and pouch cells with existing chemistries can be manufactured for <$100/kWh

  • Thick-electrode cells are rate limited but suitable for long-duration applications

Context & Scale

Today’s lithium-ion batteries are manufactured with many layers of thin electrode materials that store energy, layered on to copper and aluminum current collectors. Increasing the thickness of these electrode layers can reduce the balance of cell hardware costs, reducing the overall cost per kWh of energy stored. Adopting a bobbin cell format, which is widely used for alkaline batteries, offers further opportunities for increasing the thickness of the electrodes beyond the thicknesses achievable today for sandwiched layers of electrodes. Bobbin cell manufacturing costs have also been scaled down with the experience of alkaline cell manufacturers, offering opportunities for these cells to be produced, using existing lithium-ion battery materials, for less than $100/kWh at the cell level. Although not suitable for all applications, these cells are suited for long-duration (4+ h discharge) grid storage applications.

Summary

Lithium-ion battery costs have fallen rapidly, enabling their adaptation for electric vehicle and electricity grid storage applications largely thought impractical a decade ago. However, current costs are still too high to enable low-cost, geographically unrestricted energy storage technologies required for load-shifting storage. Existing industry experience with grid lithium-ion systems gives these batteries an incumbency advantage over other storage technologies. Here, we examine both the performance and manufacturing costs of lithium-ion cells specifically designed for long-duration grid storage applications. We found that by minimizing the balance of cell hardware and using existing, low-cost electrode materials, cells can be manufactured for less than $100/kWh. Although the levelized cost of storage is highly dependent on the use case, an 8-h system cycled almost daily can provide stored electricity at a cost of <$0.10/kWh.

Keywords

electrical energy storage
levelized cost of storage
lithium-ion battery

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