Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America

What Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America does

Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America (ARES), founded in 2010 and privately held, is developing GravityLine, a utility-scale gravity-based energy storage system. The technology uses electric motors to drive a fleet of 210 mass cars, each weighing 720,000 pounds, uphill on ten closed multi-rail tracks, converting surplus electricity into gravitational potential energy; when the grid requires power, the cars descend and the motors operate as generators, delivering a 15-minute round-trip efficiency. The company positions GravityLine as non-flammable, non-degrading, water-free, and rated for a 40-year service life, contrasting it with lithium-ion battery alternatives for high-power, short-duration applications.

ARES is executing through its operating subsidiary ARES Nevada LLC, which broke ground in October 2020 on the company's first commercial facility, a 50 MW project on approximately 20 acres at the Gamebird Pit gravel mine in Pahrump, Nevada, under a partnership with site owner Wulfenstein Construction and EPC contractor Potelco (a Quanta Services company). The facility is designed to provide regulation services and ancillary grid support to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) and the broader Western U.S. grid.

ARES operates a merchant energy storage business model, developing, owning, and operating its own GravityLine facilities and earning revenue from grid-services contracts with utilities and grid operators, rather than selling the underlying equipment. Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting utilities and independent power producers, with no public pricing and project economics negotiated deal-by-deal. The company has no disclosed institutional funding, no operational revenue, and a lean organization anchored by CEO Howard Trott.

Name

Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America

Legal name

Advanced Rail Energy Storage

Website

https://aresnorthamerica.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America develops GravityLine, a utility-scale gravity-based energy storage system using rail-mounted mass cars, and operates merchant storage facilities selling ancillary grid services to utilities and grid operators such as CAISO.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Utility-Scale Energy Storage

NAICS

Electric Bulk Power Transmission and Control (221121), Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution (2211)

SIC

Motors & Generators (3621)

akta.pro primary industry

Gravity & Solid-Mass LDES (Lifted Weight, Rail, Mine-Shaft) (EUAFADAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mechanical LDES (Pumped Hydro, Compressed/Liquid Air, Flywheels) (EUAFADAB), Stationary Energy Storage Systems (BESS/ESS Integrators) (IMAGAHAD), Energy Storage Asset Management (BESS/PCS/EMS) (EUAEAMAE)

Keywords

• Gravity-based energy storage
• Utility-scale energy storage
• Grid ancillary services
• Rail energy storage systems
• Renewable energy integration

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Merchant Energy Storage Services: ARES operates GravityLine facilities as merchant energy storage, providing ancillary services to grid operators including regulation services for CAISO. Revenue is generated through energy storage and grid services contracts with utilities and grid operators.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

ARES develops, owns, and operates the GravityLine utility-scale gravity-based energy storage system, using electric motors to move 720,000-pound mass cars uphill on closed multi-rail tracks to store energy as gravitational potential energy, then deploying them downhill with motors acting as generators. The system delivers 15-minute round-trip regulation and ancillary services to grid operators such as CAISO, with a stated 40-year service life, no degradation, and no thermal runaway risk, marketed as a lower-cost, non-flammable alternative to battery storage.

Product overview

ARES North America offers a single unified product, the GravityLine™ system, a gravity-based energy storage solution. The GravityLine uses proven rail technology with mass cars on closed multi-rail tracks to store energy by moving cars uphill against gravity and releasing that energy by deploying them downhill. The system provides utility-scale, non-flammable, non-degrading energy storage with a 40-year service life, designed to support renewable energy integration and grid flexibility.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• GravityLine Energy Storage System Utility-scale gravity-based energy storage system that uses electric motors to drive 720,000-pound mass cars uphill on 10 closed multi-rail tracks to store energy as gravitational potential energy, then deploys them downhill with motors acting as generators to deliver a 15-minute round-trip regulation service for grid operators such as CAISO. The system has a 40-year service life with no degradation and no thermal runaway risk, marketed to utilities and independent power producers as a non-flammable, water-less alternative to battery storage.

Quantifiable outcome

• 50MW facility providing 15 minutes of regulation services at full capacity
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Wulfenstein ConstructioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 October 2020Wulfenstein Construction owns the Gamebird Pit gravel mine where ARES Nevada is developing its first GravityLine facility. The partnership involves reclaiming an existing mine site for energy storage use. Jim Wulfenstein stated the mine owned since the late 1980s can be reclaimed through a process benefiting the future of energy while creating economic base for Pahrump and surrounding community.
• Potelco (Quanta Services)majorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPotelco, a Quanta Services company, has been selected as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the ARES Nevada GravityLine project. This is a significant construction partnership for the demonstration facility.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Energy Vault Holdings: NYSE-listed developer of gravity-based energy storage systems using weighted blocks and tower structures. Energy Vault is the closest publicly traded analog to ARES, pursuing the same core thesis (utility-scale mechanical LDES using gravity) with comparable target customers (utilities, IPPs) and competitive positioning against lithium-ion batteries.
• Gravitricity: UK-based startup developing gravity energy storage using suspended weights in mine shafts and deep wells. Gravitricity shares ARES's core technology thesis (elevated mass as storage medium) and similar target use cases (grid ancillary services, mine-site repurposing), making it a direct category competitor.

Emerging players

• Form Energy: U.S.-based developer of iron-air battery systems targeting 100+ hour long-duration storage for utilities. Form Energy competes with ARES for the same utility LDES procurement dollars and regulatory recognition, but uses electrochemical rather than mechanical storage — positioning as a technology substitute rather than direct competitor.
• Highview Power: UK-based developer of liquid air energy storage (LAES) for utility-scale long-duration applications. Highview targets the same utility ancillary services and renewable integration use cases as ARES, with a competing mechanical (rather than electrochemical) storage approach.
• Quidnet Energy: U.S.-based startup developing compressed air energy storage using subsurface geology. Quidnet shares ARES's mechanical (non-electrochemical) storage thesis, target customers (utilities, grid operators), and mine/geological-site siting model, making it a closely adjacent LDES competitor.
• ESS Inc. NYSE-listed developer of iron flow battery systems for long-duration utility-scale storage. ESS pursues the same LDES thesis as ARES (long-duration, non-lithium, fire-safe) but uses electrochemical flow batteries rather than mechanical systems.
• Hydrostor: Canadian-Australian developer of advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) using hydrostatic pressure in underground caverns. Hydrostor targets the same long-duration utility storage market as ARES with a competing mechanical/compressed-air approach.

Broad incumbents

• Fluence Energy: NASDAQ-listed global leader in utility-scale battery energy storage system integration (BESS). Fluence is the dominant incumbent competing with ARES for utility procurement budgets, though using lithium-ion batteries rather than gravity — making it the primary incumbent ARES must displace to win market share.
• Tesla Energy (Megapack): Tesla's utility-scale energy storage product line, using lithium-ion chemistry to deliver containerized BESS solutions for utilities and grid operators. Tesla Energy is the most visible incumbent in the storage market ARES is targeting, with significant brand and supply chain advantages.

Others

• Quanta Services: NYSE-listed infrastructure services company whose subsidiary Potelco is ARES's EPC contractor. Quanta is an enabling infrastructure partner rather than competitor, but its broader energy storage buildout activities make it a key ecosystem participant in ARES's market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ARES-LLC-100071240220946
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/2971343

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America