This Could Be The Lithium-ion Battery Killer

4 min read

Scarcity, high cost, unethical sourcing, concentrated supply chains and safety concerns. These are just some of the challenges faced with lithium-ion batteries. But there may be an alternative that could alleviate them all. Sodium batteries – battery cells produced with sodium in place of lithium.

Why use sodium instead of lithium?

• There is more sodium available than lithium. Global lithium reserves are estimated at 22 million metric tons while global reserves of natural soda ash, which can be used to make powdered detergents, soaps and rechargeable batteries, amounted to approximately 25 billion metric tons.
• Sodium can be found in multiple different countries whereas lithium supply is limited to a handful of countries.
• Sodium is cheaper. In 2022, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was estimated at $37,000 per metric ton. The 2022 average for the same amount of soda ash was $378,25. Other materials (such as cobalt, copper and graphite) used in sodium-ion batteries also tend to be cheaper than those in lithium-ion batteries.
• Sodium-ion batteries also don’t come with the safety hazards such as battery fires.
• Sodium-ion batteries eliminate the use of other materials associated with human rights abuses, such as cobalt.
• Sodium batteries have longer life cycles. This means that sodium-ion batteries can be charged and discharged more times than their lithium-ion counterparts until they start to drop in performance or capacity.
• Sodium-ion batteries have a wider temperature operating range: -30⁰C to 80⁰C compared with -20⁰C to 60⁰C for lithium-ion batteries.

Changing over from one technology to the other will not be difficult as the two have a similar design which means that they can be manufactured using similar methods. This also means that they can use the same production facilities. Sodium is also right underneath lithium in the periodic table, meaning that the two are chemically similar.

However, for now, sodium-ion batteries cannot compare to lithium-ion batteries in terms of range in EVs. This is because sodium-ion batteries have a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries. This means that sodium batteries will have to be larger and heavier to hold the same amount of energy as lithium-ion batteries.

Although sodium-ion battery research was abandoned back in the 1970s, it was reignited in mid-2021 when CATL, the largest battery supplier in the world, announced that they would begin investing heavily into sodium-ion battery technology.

UK based start-up, Faradion, develops a sodium-ion battery that contains sodium, nickel, manganese, magnesium, titanium and oxygen in the cathode, and hard carbon in the anode. Their batteries are targeted at the energy storage market, with applications including back-up power for telecommunications infrastructure, storing excess renewable energy for municipalities, and more.

The company also plans to manufacture batteries for electric scooters, bikes, forklifts and similar vehicles. They rolled out their first battery, an 11.5 kWh battery pack for energy storage, in Australia in 2022. Faradion CEO, James Quinn, said “EV is a more crowded space. It’s a much more challenging market. It requires much more capital, and there’s longer design cycles. On the other hand, because there is so much interest in our technology, it’s certainly important to be on their roadmap… because you do want to be able to have a seat at the table.” Faradion is building an R&D facility in the UK and a factory in India to scale up production. Quinn said they’re also building up to gigafactories.

Natron energy is another sodium-ion battery startup based in America. This company uses a sodium material rich in iron for the cathode, and a manganese-rich sodium material for the anode. Natron runs a pilot-scale production line where it says it can produce between 100 and 200 battery systems per month. Co-foudner & CEO, Colin Wessells, said that in 2024, the company would be running one plant to the rate of 3,5 to 4 million battery cells per year. 

Like Faradion, Natron is not focusing on the EV market. They are instead focusing on the data centre market, where their batteries can provide back-up power in case of outages. A possible future market for them is EV charging stations, where they are already testing technology with Chevron as an investor. United Airlines has also invested in Natron and seeks to use their sodium-ion battery technology for its land operations.

Besides Natron and Faradion, there are 16 other notable companies that are trying to commericalise sodium batteries. EV car brands such as BYD, JAC, and Chery have already begun exploring using sodium batteries in their EVs. Western countries are also keen on using sodium-ion batteries as China dominates the lithium-ion battery supply chain. However, experts also say that the sodium-ion battery will be used to relieve pressure on the lithium-ion battery as opposed to replacing it.

What do you think of the sodium-ion battery? Do you think that it will eventually replace the lithium-ion battery? Share your thoughts by replying to this email.

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