I'll throw in my 2 cents based on what I'm currently doing for work - I'm involved with the development of hybrid power systems - batteries, solar and generators all working together to reduce fuel burn to a minimum, and packaging this so it's cost effective, reliable and sellable as a rental product - which is what our company is.
We've trialed both lithium and lead acid batteries in various sized units - the lead acid units have been in service for around 3 years now and the units we built have deteriorated to a point where they are becoming uneconomic to hire out, so we've bought them all back in for a refit - which is the removal of the lead acid and fitment of lithium, new charger/inverter, etc. The lead acid only has a usable life span of around 1000 to 1500 cycles @ 50% discharge - our units are generally doing between 7 and 10 discharge/charge cycles a week so bang on with what we are seeing in the reduced capacity of the batteries after around 3 to 3 1/2 years of doing this. The replacement batteries have at least a 3,000 cycle capacity @ 80% discharge - we are running them at 70% discharge and the first of these have done around 1,000 cycles now and show zero deterioration whereas we could clearly see the deterioration of the lead acid units at 1000 cycles. A 3 year life span of a product is not viable - we need at least 5 to 7 years, preferably 10, but there isn't enough data to show how long things are going to last yet.
This is just one aspect of a much bigger picture, but from where we sit and the equipment the industry is starting to demand, lithium is the only way to go. Biggest issues are supply and cost - we keep hearing these mythical statements about the price of batteries coming down, but it's going the other way at the moment and with global shortages, this is likely to keep driving prices up in the immediate future as well.
FYI - we have 1,200 watt hour, 9.6KWH and 45KWH battery systems currently with 24KWH and 96KWH systems in development as well - each has a different market segment, footprint and weight so it's not a one size fits all with this - we've customer built some really neat units to fit a specific market and have had awesome take up and acceptance with those customers.
When we were looking at some 200KWH systems the suppler said 'They have a fire suppression system in them' - to which I said they'd be better off with an alarm screaming 'Run away as fast as you can' - as this would be more effective on a 200KWH lithium battery pack than any fire suppression system could hope to be.
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