How can developers of a new technology succeed against more established competitors? They need to understand and focus on the value they can deliver to their potential customers, not the technology itself.
There’s no doubt that energy storage is a vital element of a successful transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Storage enables solar power to keep the lights on after sunset and the wind to power factories on a calm day. It enables customers to reduce their electricity cost by buying power when it’s cheap, storing it, and then using it when mains power is more expensive. So far, so obvious, although maybe it’s surprising to refer to ‘energy storage’ instead of ‘batteries’.
It does seem that the Lithium ion battery has become synonymous with energy storage, and Li-ion battery news tends to dominate the storage headlines. It’s true that these batteries have been, and will remain, critically important to the rapidly growing storage market. They’re a great fit for many applications, but there’s still a real need for further performance improvements and cost reductions, and supply chain concerns need to be addressed.
There are other technologies out there that perform better against criteria such as longer term storage, but overall they don’t get so much air time. The developers need to start communicating more impactfully to compete against Li-ion; how can they do this?
This same challenge confronts the developers of new technologies for any application in any sector. They need to really understand the value that they can add to their potential customers and communicate that in a very compelling way. They need to ensure that they develop the broader proposition around their technology to enable that value to be realized and to generate strong customer pull. These steps will be obvious and straightforward for those with experienced marketing teams, but less so for a new start-up. We’re here to help you at value@catalyticagroup.com.
Getting this right will generate increased competition amongst technologies that will be good for the energy storage industry and its customers, good for energy availability, and good for the environment. It will bring costs down, drive up performance and deliver more value, and that’s good news for us all.
