Aquion Energy Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
March 9th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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Bummer. That’s the battery I wanted, albeit for less than half the price of what they were asking. *chortle* Maybe the chemistry will survive with whichever entity picks over the carcass…
I doubt it’s a coincidence that this happened just as the Tesla Powerwall 2 is beginning to ship.
Back in October, I wrote the following about the Tesla Powerwall 2:
As far as I can tell, this authoritatively blows away all other residential energy storage options…
This is a bit disturbing because this upsets the entire storage industry. There is no competition to this. For companies with existing energy storage offerings, there are two options:
1) Drastically drop prices
2) Die
The cost of a delivered kWh from the Aquion system is more than double the cost of a delivered kWh from the Powerwall 2. Despite the superior safety and environmental characteristics of the Aquion, the high price, and possibly the larger footprint, doomed it.
This is why I keep telling people to wait, if possible, on these next gen systems. If it’s not possible, and you need storage now, go with the cheapest AGM bank that fits your needs and wait for this industry turmoil settle out somewhat.
The Tesla Gigafactory isn’t even fully operational yet! There are an unknown number of Chinese battery Gigafactory clones spinning up. There’s the former Tesla employees’ battery Gigafactory clone coming to Sweden. Mercedes is massively expanding their lithium ion production facilities as they’re preparing several electric drive models for market and a push into domestic energy storage.
On and on. This is about .1% of the battery news floating around.
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
More consolidation is inevitable.
And if I had to pick the next one to face difficulties:
I wonder about Enphase.
Enphase’s storage prices are high and they refuse to acknowledge that people legitimately demand some form of backup capability from a multi thousand dollar investment in Enphase batteries. I’ve tried to get through to Enphase, “My customers are demanding backup capabilities, even if they’re limited.” Enphase responds: Buy a generator. Actually, a generator is the correct response if you really do the math on this issue for an average house (which Enphase has done), but the average customer won’t care with just about every other option touting backup.
Via: Energy Storage News:
US battery and energy storage system manufacturer Aquion Energy has declared bankruptcy, offloading 80% of its employees and reverting to its core R&D team, according to a company release.
The maker of saltwater Aqueous Hybrid Ion batteries and energy storage systems stated it “has filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court of the District of Delaware”.
Several of the personnel whose employment was terminated have entered into consulting agreements with Aquion to help in the sale of its assets. All factory operations have been paused as well as the marketing and selling of products to allow time for assets to be sold.
Several potential strategic buyers have shown interest in multi-award winning Aquion and are said to be conducting due diligence under non-disclosure agreements.
Scott Pearson, Aquion’s outgoing chief executive, said: “Creating a new electrochemistry and an associated battery platform at commercial scale is extremely complex, time-consuming, and very capital intensive. Despite our best efforts to fund the company and continue to fuel our growth, the company has been unable to raise the growth capital needed to continue operating as a going concern.”
