Lithium batteries are expected to continue to dominate, accounting for 80 percent of the world's power battery storage deployment

The differences of energy storage equipment are mainly reflected in the design ability of battery management system (BMS) and product design ability. Battery use is expected to increase significantly in the next few years, with the largest markets being North America, Europe and the asia-pacific region, the international renewable energy agency said in its "" RethinkingEnergy2017" "report. In 2016, lithium battery accounted for 50% of the new energy storage scheme. By 2025, lithium batteries are expected to continue to dominate, accounting for 80 percent of the global deployment of power battery energy storage.

In large capacity storage capacity (MWh) market, including tesla, samsung, LG, byd, ningde hin high-tech era, countries, Chinaspecial lithium electricity, zte can send, nunn power supply, the lion, Thornton, new energy science and technology, the male towers shares, such as yan wanda a batch of domestic and foreign well-known battery & PACK enterprise, even the lithium battery materials comprehensive supplier shanshan shares, energy storage projects are actively layout. In terms of capital, technology and national strategic support, large companies have more obvious competitive advantages in the large-capacity energy storage market.

EcoFlow, an energy storage technology company founded in 2017, focuses on the small and medium capacity energy storage market (kWh level), providing mobile energy for entertainment, home and small engineering scenarios.

Wang lei, the founder of EcoFlow, told 36-krypton that they are focusing on the market for small generators with similar power standards, aiming to gradually replace conventional generators burning diesel or gasoline with cost-effective electrochemical energy storage and power generation equipment. The disadvantages of conventional generators are noise, pollution and the need for regular maintenance. Energy storage devices based on lithium battery technology can effectively avoid the above problems.

It is reported that the size of the global small generator market is about 150 billion yuan, mainly concentrated in overseas, of which the demand for entertainment accounts for 40% of the total market, and the demand for home and engineering scene accounts for 30% of the total market. EcoFlow has now launched two energy storage devices with a capacity of 200Wh and 500Wh respectively, which are mainly used in outdoor entertainment scenes. In the future, EcoFlow will gradually cover energy storage products from 500Wh to 5000Wh, and further expand to household and small engineering scenarios.

The lithium battery production industry is very mature, including the raw materials needed upstream including the cell and chip (carrying BMS system), as well as the process involved in the production of lithium battery. Therefore, raw materials and production technology are not the core factors to open the competitive gap. Wang lei told 36kr that the difference between energy storage equipment products is mainly reflected in the design ability of battery management system (BMS) and product design ability.

BMS will affect the working state and service life of the equipment. There will be more than 10 lithium batteries in the energy storage equipment of EcoFlow (about 40 batteries in 500Wh). The more batteries there are, the more difficult the management will be. In terms of product design, a major problem for c-end products is that end users and usage scenarios are diversified and uncontrollable. Therefore, the product design should be adapted to more potential scenarios, which not only requires technical requirements, but also requires the team to have a deep understanding of the requirements of different types of consumers and different application scenarios.

Deep understanding of products, markets and users can equate to a time barrier that is difficult to catch up with or surpass. Because EcoFlow entered the company early and launched its products in the first place, it has been verified by the market and iterated with the products, so it has established certain first-priority advantages.

Wang lei tells a reporter, besides product design and function can iterate ceaselessly, the price of the product also has bigger drop space. The cost of battery cells accounts for nearly half of the total equipment BOM cost. Currently, the cost of battery is 1-1.5 yuan /Wh, but it is expected to drop to 0.5-1 yuan /Wh in the next 2-3 years, when the price of lithium battery energy storage equipment will be the same as that of generators or even lower.

EcoFlow, which focused on product development and promotion last year, began expanding its offline sales channels in the first half of this year. Wang lei believes that the products will be mainly sold offline in the short term. Because of the high unit price, it is necessary to cooperate with offline store promotion and actual experience purchase. Online sales will be a climbing state, and EcoFlow will promote KOL in the field where the potential customer base is concentrated.

In addition to EcoFlow, Tesla and GoZero are also manufacturers of c-terminal lithium electric energy storage equipment. The market is still in the blue ocean. EcoFlow is headquartered in shenzhen and has marketing, sales and after-sales offices in silicon valley. The company has a team of about 30 people, and its founders are from China and the United States. Founder wang lei, a graduate of the university of Hong Kong, founded the dji battery research and development department, which is responsible for the battery research and development of all dji products, and is now responsible for EcoFlow product planning and research and development. EliMorganHarris, another founder, was responsible for the business development of the global uav industry in dji and is now responsible for the global sales and market development of EcoFlow.

EcoFlow recently announced that it has obtained 30 million yuan of pre-a round financing, this round of financing is jointly invested by delian capital and chunjia asset. This round of financing is mainly used to expand the r&d and sales teams, further layout energy storage products, and gradually expand the market from Europe and America to developing countries. This year will do a new round of financing, the amount is still to be determined, is expected to be in the tens of millions of yuan to 100 million yuan. The fund is used for product research and development, market promotion and expansion of production scale.

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