BYD doubles Tesla Megapack capacity with record beating ESS that costs a cent per kWh

BYD just beat CATL for the world's biggest battery pack record. The new BYD HaoHan energy storage system (ESS) offers 14.5 MWh capacity in a single unit thanks to numerous breakthroughs in single cell energy or volumetric density.

The HaoHan ESS can house the whopping 10 MWh in a standard 20-foot container, beating CATL's Tener system and allowing for a 22% reduction in levelled project costs. For comparison, Tesla's newest Megapack 3 can only house 5 MWh in the same footprint.

The volumetric density of 233 kWh per cubic meter exceeds the average for the industry by over 50%, buoyed by BYD's new blade battery that, at 2,710 Ah capacity, is the world's largest energy storage cell.

Thanks to this gigantic unit, a typical 1 GWh ESS will need half as many HaoHan units using 76% fewer battery cells than typical, requiring a third smaller land surface to build out. The cell-to-system volumetric efficiency is at a record 52% and, with a useful lifespan of more than 10,000 charge-discharge cycles, the lifetime cost per kWh is the equivalent of just $0.014, the lowest electricity storage expense so far.

Besides the high energy density per 20-foot container, the low energy storage price is achieved through internally developed blade design that minimizes redundant components. BYD's converter and software can adjust power output on a millisecond level, too, making the HaoHan ESS suitable for grid-level renewable energy balancing.

This is something that the industry is in dire need of, given all the blackouts that unprepared utilities have experienced when they can't manage intermittent energy sources like solar and wind successfully. It's precisely the HaoHan system that BYD will use to build the world's largest 12.5 GWh gird-level energy storage project in Saudi Arabia.