logo-loader

RedFlow achieves zinc bromide battery life milestone

Last updated: 23:33 16 Dec 2014 AEDT, First published: 00:33 17 Dec 2014 AEDT

amazon_350_54cb9053974de
Gross margin, or Amazon’s profits not including the cost of sales, rose to 29.5 percent from 26.5 percent in the year-earlier period.

RedFlow (ASX:RFX) has achieved an important milestone with over 10,000 kilowatt hours processed through a single zinc-bromide flow battery during long-term testing.

Adding to the interest, this test battery continues to perform with no signs of degradation and accordingly it is not yet possible to predict total capacity nor battery life of this generation ZBM.

These results have been achieved from a reference ZBM, now being manufactured by Flextronics, using accelerated bench testing and charging and discharging daily at 100% over several months.

During testing, the battery has been stressed at higher charge and discharge rates to achieve this result in a quicker time frame.

This further validates the robustness of the product as these higher charge and discharge rates tends to speed up the degradation process.

“Increased energy storage over the life of the battery decreases the effective cost of the energy stored which is a key driver of sales in every market,” chief executive office Stuart Smith said.
    
“The improvements to electrode longevity combined with product and manufacturing improvements made over the past 18 months have been significant and are a credit to the team.

“As previously announced, our key focus is now on commercial production at Flextronics and development of our sales pipeline.”


Focus on production and sales

Earlier this month, the company said additional new trials had been approved by four new and existing customers.

Commercial sales from these trials are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2015.

This will help its focus on securing early sales and building sales volumes through calendar 2015 to the level at which it is at least cash flow neutral.

It is also finalising the transition of manufacturing operations to Flextronics (NASDAQ:FLEX) and increasing volume production.    

The transfer of manufacture to Flextronics, a US$6.4 billion market cap, will allow the company to focus on product development and innovation to ensure that it has a pipeline of improved products.


Zinc Bromine Flow Batteries


RedFlow’s zinc-bromide flow batteries have a significant advantage over traditional technologies including lithium in their ability to discharge daily at 100% for up to 8 hours (or longer).

This compares with competing technologies which have previously been for relatively short term power requirements.

However, large amounts of investment and resources are being invested to extend the applications to which they can be applied and the company continues to monitor competitive changes closely.

Zinc bromine batteries are expected to have a 19% market share of the energy storage market, which is predicted to be worth $114 billion by 2017.


Analysis

The milestone of over 10,000 kilowatt hours processed during long-term testing with no signs of degradation is key in the energy storage market as it decreases the effective cost of energy stored.

RedFlow also benefits from its manufacturing agreement with the plus US$6 billion capped Flextronics.

The agreement allows RedFlow to benefit from manufacturing efficiencies, while allowing it to tap Flextronics extensive global supply chain.

This along with the focus on developing its sales pipeline provides the potential for the company to be cash flow positive by the end of 2015.

RFX has been a top performer on the ASX during 2014, last trading at $0.305, which is three times higher than the start of the year.

 

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

5 hours, 7 minutes ago