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North Carolina is getting a $1.4B sodium-ion battery gigafactory (electrek.co)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (20 children)

Sodium-ion batteries are gaining attention as a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries for EVs, mainly due to their cost-effectiveness and abundance of raw materials. Sodium is more readily available and less expensive than lithium, making it an attractive prospect for scaling up EV production.

I don't know why they said this — they really aren't a viable alternative for weight-sensitive contexts at all. Their density is only abut 60% that of Li-ion batteries, and that isn't even getting into solid-state Li batteries which are even more dense. If weight isn't an issue, like for home or grid backup storage, they're fine. For cars or bikes, not so much.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (5 children)

I don’t know why they said this — they really aren’t a viable alternative for weight-sensitive contexts at all. Their density is only abut 60% that of Li-ion batteries, and that isn’t even getting into solid-state Li batteries which are even more dense. If weight isn’t an issue, like for home or grid backup storage, they’re fine. For cars or bikes, not so much.

Your explanation is valid for vehicles that have 100% of their battery be something other than Sodium based, and also have a use case that requires long or intermediate range. That isn't all use cases. Vehicles that drive a lot, but never cover much distance would still be valid use cases for 100% sodium. 100% Sodium Ion powered EVs started rolling off assembly lines in Dec of 2023. Alternatively 100% Sodium Ion could also be for things like fork lifts or Semi trucks that move storage containers from a cargo ship to a storage location within a mile and repeat this trip dozens of times a day.

Other use cases would be where a car has some sodium batteries and some lithium based ones. The sodium batteries could serve most of the "wear and tear" of short trips, with a second smaller lithium back available to augment overall range which is not used as often.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Other use cases would be where a car has some sodium batteries and some lithium based ones. The sodium batteries could serve most of the “wear and tear” of short trips, with a second smaller lithium back available to augment overall range which is not used as often.

This is a neat idea, but wouldn't solid-state lithium be far, far better for that purpose?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

AFAIK SS lithium have huge price tag, at least for now.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not really — portable batteries are already on the market and aren't that much more than conventional Li-ion.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Are they? Good to hear. However Samsung is starting mass production for EVs and they are targeting initially the most expensive segment. But let's see once they start producing them.

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