North Korea vanadium titanium flow battery

Could vanadium be a safer battery than lithium?

[PARK SANG-MOON] Vanadium, a hard, silvery metal element, has been on an upward demand curve with its price soaring 84 percent over the past 10 years — lifted partly by its potential as a battery candidate that is safer than lithium. And this is where Standard Energy, a Korean start-up, is betting big.

Does standard energy have a solution to a vanadium-ion battery problem?

Standard Energy believes it has a solution to that issue. Punctured, beaten, dropped and even directly exposed to fire through numerous safety tests by multiple institutions, the company’s vanadium-ion battery did not show any sign of ignition, according to the company. But that’s not all there is to it.

Can a vanadium battery supply be securing a supply chain?

Vanadium is a common material worldwide, and it’s even found in Korea. So securing a vanadium supply is not that difficult. Demand for lithium-ion batteries is soaring, especially with the strong EV demand, and the preexisting battery technologies inevitably come with supply chain risks since they use rare earth materials.

Why are lithium ion batteries more popular than vanadium batteries?

The lithium-ion batteries have been predominant in the market despite ignition risks because there was no alternative that could catch up with its high energy efficiency and production quantity. Vanadium-ion batteries, on the other hand, have zero risk of ignition, and also have high efficiency.