This article presents a preliminary study of the measurement of local current density in all-vanadium redox flow batteries. Two batteries are designed and manufactured in this study, and the experimental results are compared. In the first cell, the current collector is divided into 25 segments, and the flow field plate is not segmented, whereas in the other cell, the flow field plate is segmented. The effects of the electrolyte flow rate on the battery efficiencies and the local current density variation are investigated. The experimental results show that the current density near the outlet significantly decreases when the discharge capacity approaches zero. In addition, the battery has a larger discharge depth at a higher electrolyte flow rate. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.