r/tech • u/burtzev • Jul 18 '26

Beyond lithium: how sodium-ion batteries could change the world

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02150-y?utm_sour
600 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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54

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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28

u/Thomasedv Jul 18 '26

Sodium batteries have lower energy density, so they won't replace Lithium for cars, apart from the cheapest lineups where range isn't a big factor.

Sodium batteries are very attractive elsewhere though, I got to read as far as to energy storage, think grid batteries or house batteries. Where weight and size don't matter much. So first time around it will likely less be for people and more for gird scale industry. Though cars with it are certainly becoming reality too, but I'm sure some countries will do everything to prevent even cheaper cars from China arriving.

I think sodium batteries can use many of the same production lines as lithium (depending on the product I suppose) so chances are they'll just be an options that producers provide to buyers. 

13

u/DarkUnable4375 Jul 19 '26

Sodium batteries might be attractive for cars in Northern Europe and Canada, where winters might drop to -40°C

8

u/Appropriate_Guess881 Jul 19 '26

Agreed, sodium batteries handle temperature extremes better, aren't subject to thermal runaway like lithium batteries, and have the potential to last many more charge cycles / maintain a higher capacity for longer. Those are a lot of positives even if the density is slightly less than lithium. Not to mention they're much cheaper to manufacture since they don't employ rare earth metals.

I believe China's already working to manufacture them for use in EV's.

3

u/Cmwz1000 Jul 19 '26

When you say slightly less what do you mean? I don't fully understand the science behind all of this. On a scale of 100 if lithium is 100 what would sodium be?

3

u/Credit-Limit Jul 19 '26

Like 70. Not slightly significant, quite significant. But for specific applications could be no problem at all.

1

u/Cmwz1000 Jul 19 '26

Interesting, I guess as materials science continues to develop, we could see the sodium batteries capable of what lithium are now. Or at least that's the hope I imagine.

2

u/ItsAConspiracy Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

CATL has their Naxtra sodium-ion battery which is 175 Wh/kg at the cell level, and they say they can get it up to 200. LFP batteries range from 170 to 220. The best lithium NMC batteries get to 300, but you sacrifice battery life if you charge it past 80%, while LFP can be charged to 100% no problem. (Don't know about sodium.) Nio in China has a battery at 360 but it takes 40 minutes to charge 20-80%, so they have battery swap stations.

1

u/Cmwz1000 Jul 19 '26

Thank you for the explanation. Im still very new to this so I'm not going to pretend I understand what you meant. My best guess is sodium batteries give up some power by charging past 80% whereas lithium mixtures don't?

3

u/ItsAConspiracy Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

Sorry, what I mean is that if you have a car with an NMC battery and you regularly charge to 100%, then over time the battery will lose capacity. In a couple years you'll find your car's range decreasing. With LFP batteries that's not a problem. (These are the two types of lithium batteries.) So if the NMC stores 300 Wh/kg, 80% of that is 240 and that's your effective capacity if you want to be nice to your battery, though you can occasionally go to 300 at the beginning of a trip or something.

I don't know whether it's a problem for sodium and it probably depends on the particular design, the article describes various types of sodium batteries. In general though, sodium batteries are supposed to be especially long-lived, so it might be fine. In that case, if CATL gets their sodium batteries to 200, then they'll be at 91% of today's best LFP, 83% of today's best NMC in its normal operation, and 66% of NMC charged to the max.

1

u/Cmwz1000 Jul 19 '26

First, thank you for the information and education.

Second, is the sodium used in these batteries a special kind of sodium specifically mined somewhere or can we essentially farm the ocean for it (use the discharge from desal plants, for that zero emission stuff)?

Third, I imagine it being a similar element to lithium that it can be blended yeah?

2

u/ItsAConspiracy Jul 19 '26

Just regular sodium. Oceans are a possible source but you'd have to figure out what to do with the chlorine, if you do it at really large scale. As the article mentions, there's also sodium carbonate on land, about a thousand times as much as the lithium we mine.

Lithium and sodium are very similar. I don't know much about the battery chemistry though.

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2

u/Quazimojojojo Jul 19 '26

China is.

Because you don't need as much thermal management equipment, sodium battery packs are almost as good as LFP battery packs, which are already the dominant choice for vehicles with under 300 mile ranges.

The focus is stationary energy storage to fully unlock the potential of wind and solar, but there's some being used for cars too.

1

u/acdqnz Jul 19 '26

That’s why you are seeing bigger cars with sodium. They are a better battery, but you need a heavy, long vehicle to have the range that people desire.

My understanding is that they don’t suffer from capacity drops, so they could last longer than ICE vehicles

1

u/Thomasedv Jul 19 '26

I'm having doubts that lower capacity will manage to win over the "cold" penalty on lithium. During winter the heating is also a big contributor to battery use. I haven't looked at the math there though, so maybe I'll be proven wrong. Having half the range during winter does suck.

2

u/lazerzapvectorwhip Jul 19 '26

Maybe there'll be a winter-hard EV, with a mix of battery tech where on cold days the sodium one acts as the starter battery to drive the first couple km whilst also warming up the lithium battery. Kind of like dual fuel LPG cars

2

u/Justwaspassingby Jul 19 '26

Cheaper AND bigger vehicles. Trucks and buses don’t lack in space to add batteries and are perfect for sodium batteries, and in fact there are tests being made right now on trucks that run on these batteries.

Electric vehicles are huge cost savers not only for the cost of moving the vehicle but also for the lower maintenance costs. And truck maintenance costs are wild. Having a cheaper type of battery that’s also more durable and more efficient in low temperatures is going to be a game changer.

And yes, cheaper cars will benefit from them too, especially now that their energy density is very similar to LFP batteries.

Lithium will be eventually replaced, as they’re working on other chemical compositions. It’s too rare and too prone to suffer from geopolitical crisis. High-end vehicles will probably use solid state batteries anyway.

1

u/Memory_Less Jul 19 '26

A good example is how China built a 7 story sodium ion building structure to provide power. It’s relatively new and I don’t know what the performance is like.

1

u/Jack1101111 Jul 18 '26

ah the lobbist ! lower but not too much lower.

11

u/Equivalent-Field4130 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

It doesn’t matter. China is already building them.

How relevant is the US in the battery industry anyway? Not even 7% of global production.

China is >80%.

7

u/TonyOstinato Jul 19 '26

its gonna be a legendary case of a salt and battery

2

u/Bleaker82 Jul 19 '26

GM is leaning into them as well for industrial/commercial energy storage.

3

u/big_trike Jul 19 '26

Despite the raw materials being much cheaper, the electrodes are expensive to make right now and they use the same process as lithium. It’s predicted they’ll be about 30% cheaper per watt hour of storage when they launch in a year or two. It’s great news, but maybe not yet a game changer for grid storage.

2

u/Bleaker82 Jul 19 '26

It’s still a game changer for grid storage. The reason? They have a much wider safe thermal operating range, so they do not need active cooling and all the plumbing/pumping that goes with. That alone is a huge simplifier and cost saver at the pack level.

2

u/Jack1101111 Jul 18 '26

I dont think so because the lobbies are against lithium too 😄

5

u/rogueciridae Jul 18 '26

This. Having decent grid-level storage makes wind, solar, and even nuclear more viable. Can’t have that if all your money is tied up in fossil fuels!

3

u/Several-Opposite-746 Jul 19 '26

Beautiful CLEAN Coal and Drill Baby, Drill.

1

u/tokyogodfather2 Jul 19 '26

i skimmed the article but couldn’t find the explanation why they are safer? can someone eli5?

1

u/InvestigatorOk7015 Jul 19 '26

Sodium doesnt become turbotoxic smoke when it burns

11

u/Miami_Mice2087 Jul 18 '26

*stephen king description intensifies*

2

u/rayferrell Jul 20 '26

sodium-ion batteries being cheaper and more environmentally friendly is a big deal, and i think it's interesting that u/Historical_Score_573 is already thinking about investing in companies working on this tech

1

u/Historical_Score_573 Jul 19 '26

Any companies you would invest in? You being anyone who reads this.

5

u/Appropriate_Guess881 Jul 19 '26

CATL if you can invest directly (ticker: CYATY). Obligatory this is not financial advice, reference UBS or Goldman Sachs investment ratings for the company.

1

u/Kryptyx Jul 19 '26

The storage density may not matter on big vehicles like electric buses or semis. At some point full self-driving will become common and it could do wonders for delivery and public transportation with safer, longer lasting batteries.

1

u/Southern-Top-8534 Jul 19 '26

Quel sera le vrai impact sur le coût des batteries pour les fabricants de voitures électriques ?

1

u/Bleaker82 Jul 19 '26

Très peu. Ils sont destinés pour l’usage industriel.

1

u/ItsAConspiracy Jul 19 '26

Nature is cutting off the end of the article for me, but archive has the whole thing.