Sodium-ion batteries

Are sodium-ion batteries a viable candidate for massive energy storage?

Tl;dr:

For on-grid storage, probably yes.
For electric vehicles, probably yes but only if people are willing to put up with less range than today's expensive electric cars.

Next steps

What does the world need to get started on making low-cost sodium-ion battery EVs? Join the discussion.

Actions to take

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Considerations

Energy density

Low

If EVs were made with sodium-ion instead of lithium-ion batteries, their charge capacity would be significantly lower. But maybe it would still be good enough for an average consumer use-case. See: short-range electric vehicles.

Low range might not be good enough for freight trucks, however. ^{[new page needed]}

Every once and awhile, there is some news hype about new breakthroughs that make sodium-ion as energy-dense as lithium-ion (or even more). But there's usually some sort of catch (engineering tradeoffs) and so far, none of it has not been brought to market.

This page is more about what could be done with existing tech instead of waiting around for a breakthrough.

Cost

Maybe reasonable

Cheaper than lithium-ion but maybe not cheap enough.^{[RESEARCH needed]}

If it is cheap enough, that would be a great selling-point: EVs could maybe even be cheaper than today's gasoline-powered cars. For that to happen, the energy and labor inputs of manufacturing would have to be moderate. Are they? ^{[RESEARCH needed]}

Lifespan

Long

Sodium-ion can withstand many more charge cycles than lithium-ion.^{[QUANTIFICATION needed]}
Storing the battery at 0% charge will not harm it (unlike lithium-ion).

Safety

Stable

Sodium-ion batteries, if damaged, are far less prone to catastrophic explosions than lithium-ion.

Temperature range

Probably okay

Stable from -30'C to 60'C. This is well-suited for vehicles that need to function in winter. Might it be a problem on extremely hot summer days though? ^{[RESEARCH needed]}

Minerals

Abundant

Unlike lithium-ion, sodium-ion batteries are not based on cobalt and nickel. Sodium is extremely abundant in the Earth's crust. Mineral reserves are vastly more than what would ever be needed to make all vehicles electric and build the grid energy storage needed for rooftop solar. ^{[QUANTIFICATION needed]}

Production infrastructure

Available

Existing lithium-ion battery factories can be adapted to make sodium-ion batteries fairly easily(...)( at least, compared to building new factories from scratch, as would be the case for some other battery types ).

External links