Vanadium Flow Battery technology.
How Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries work — and why they are the leading technology for long-duration, safe and recyclable energy storage.
How a Vanadium Flow Battery works.
A Vanadium Flow Battery stores energy in liquid electrolytes containing vanadium ions in different oxidation states, dissolved in aqueous solution.
Energy is stored and released by circulating the electrolytes through the positive and negative compartments of electrochemical cells, where fully reversible redox reactions occur. Power is set by the cell stack; energy capacity by the volume of electrolyte in the tanks.
Why Vanadium Flow Batteries.
Five structural advantages that make VFB the leading technology for medium- to long-duration storage.
Independent power & energy
Power is set by the cell stack, energy by electrolyte volume. This decoupling makes VFBs highly cost-competitive for durations of 8 hours and beyond.
No cross-contamination
Both electrolyte tanks use vanadium, eliminating irreversible cross-contamination and preserving long-term performance.
Exceptional lifetime
The inherent stability of vanadium chemistry enables extremely long operational lifetimes with minimal degradation.
Intrinsic safety
The aqueous, non-flammable electrolyte eliminates the risk of fire or explosion — no thermal runaway by design.
Low environmental impact
A superior life-cycle assessment versus conventional batteries — reduced footprint and improved recyclability.
ESE VFB technology.
ESE owns proprietary VFB technologies engineered to serve both fast-response applications and slow-discharge use cases, including long-duration energy storage.
Our designs minimize internal losses through optimized fluid management and an advanced hydraulic architecture, paired with a high-performance combination of active cell materials. Together, these innovations maximize efficiency, performance and discharge duration, while reducing system cost, complexity and environmental impact.
Beyond Vanadium.
Our research and engineering experience extends to a broader set of storage and conversion technologies.
Organic flow batteries
Next-generation chemistries for sustainable, low-cost long-duration storage.
Lithium-ion for mobility
Battery packs engineered for road, off-road and waterborne mobility applications.
Hydrogen systems
Electrolyzers and fuel cells for stationary and mobility applications.
Ready to discuss your storage project?
Talk to our team about how VFB technology fits your grid or industrial application.
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