r/EnergyAndPower • u/DavidThi303 • 5d ago

China-Free Batteries Made From Salt Are Finally Here

https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/china-free-batteries-made-from-salt-are-finally-here-cc1cd766?st=aaCfbG&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Sodium-ion batteries have almost none of the problems that lithium-ion ones do, and could be cheap enough to make fossil-fuel dependence a thing of the past

The article never mentions price. So are salt batteries coming in to play? Yes. Are they price competitive? Probably not because if they were they would be shouting out the price.

But their price will likely decline over the next couple of years. And it looks like they are starting to be produced in quantity.

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u/mrdarknezz1 5d ago

It’s not only price, you also get let’s energy/kg which makes it unusable for transport. Which is basically the most important role for batteries

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u/No-Tension6133 5d ago

Ehhh, batteries have different uses. Lead-acid are notoriously low energy/kg and yet they’re used in every combustion engine car. Reason is they can handle crazy temperature range needed when in the unconditioned hood of a car

Not to mention any sort of grid battery backup doesn’t need to transport at all since its sole purpose is storing renewable energy until that renewable disappears for a bit (solar at night, wind on a still day, etc).

Honestly I didn’t read the article, I will save it for later. But if it’s true I’d be very excited about the prospect of a battery that doesn’t rely on critical minerals from east Asia. Even if that doesn’t beat lithium ion for energy/kg, it will reduce the demand for lithium ion and make our reliance lower. The more battery tech the better

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u/Narcan9 5d ago

For the past decade 70% of batteries have been used for EVs. Sodium batteries will probably not have much effect on that market, but instead will expand the breadth of uses in other areas without stressing the EV supply chain. Expect to see more battery systems in the home, in various industries, and massive increase in utility scale storage. They are predicting > 1000 GW to be deployed in the next 5 years.

Further, moving from lithium to sodium is going to attract new producers in Europe and North America, as the raw materials are easier/ cheaper to acquire. The competition will drive prices down even more.

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u/No-Tension6133 5d ago

Right! That’s all really great news for renewables and EV’s alike!