Financial Associated Press Shanghai, May 10 (Editor Huang Junzhi) According to reports, the sodium-ion battery developed by The American company Natron has extremely long cycle life, practical power density, excellent safety and ultra-high-speed charging and other high-quality performance, and does not require the use of any lithium.
Through a partnership with automotive battery maker Clarios, Natron's sodium-ion batteries will be mass-produced next year in Michigan, USA.
Some experts say current battery technology is heading for a lithium shortage crisis, and known lithium reserves simply aren't enough to meet the expected level of demand in the ev market, not to mention other industries looking to shift to battery power in the coming years.
Sodium-ion battery projects have emerged frequently over the past few years, hoping to get a piece of the battery market. It is worth noting that China's Cataline Times launched a sodium-ion battery for the electric vehicle market last year, with a specific energy of 160 Wh/kg, which is more than half of the energy density of the current mass-market lithium-ion battery pack.
Natron chose a different target, using a different chemical based on Prussian blue. Prussian blue is a common pigment, best known for the blue color it provides blueprints for, and is also widely used in traditional Japanese woodblock prints, such as Hokusai's The Great Waves of Kanagawa.
As we all know, battery design is often a compromise of many factors, including thermal performance, energy and power density per unit volume, safety, charging time, and cycle life.
Natron claims that its design provides a powerful capacity power density between lead-acid and lithium-ion, ultra-high-speed charging facilities can complete 0-99% charging in 8 minutes, and have a cycle life of more than 50,000 times, which is 5 to 25 times higher than competitive lithium-ion batteries. They are said to be very thermally stable, so they are safe to transport, deploy and dispose of without the risk of fire.
For now, though, the energy density is relatively low in both weight and volume, so Natron won't market the product to electric vehicle manufacturers. The company is targeting use cases for industrial batteries: data center backup power supplies, forklifts and other industrial vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and more. There may also be some applications for electric vehicles, for example, as a buffer battery for an electric vehicle charging station, storing energy between the grid supply and a fast charger to charge the car battery as quickly as possible.
Natron has partnered with Clarios International to mass-produce these sodium-ion batteries at the Clarios Meadowbrook plant in Michigan starting in 2023. Currently here is a lithium-ion battery factory, and Natron says their sodium-ion technology can be produced using the same equipment, so the collaboration would allow it to bring these products to market faster and cheaper than building the plant from scratch.
Natron said that once put into production, it will become the world's largest sodium-ion battery factory. In addition, an adequate supply of required materials should lead to very stable prices, which could be a key advantage over lithium, which depends on supply and geopolitical conditions in the coming decades.