CATL unveiled its new sodium-ion batteries back in July 2021. And in April 2023, CATL signed a new partnership with car maker Chery, for the first time, the sodium-ion batteries are being used in electric vehicles. With sodium-ion batteries promising up to 50% cost savings thanks to the more available materials needed and offering a range of up to 400 kilometres, this partnership could serve as an important step for the EV industry.
Comparing with traditional lithium-ion batteries, the new sodium batteries have a number of advantages that make them more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable. Do you think it will be a game-changer for the industry?
Your forgot to mention the, at least for me, main advantage: SAFETY
I would change all my lithium batteries for sodium batteries just to sleep without thinking that maybe I got one defective unit that could put my house down.
Important aspects are: safety, energy density, charging speed, longevity, and price. In that order.
There is no point in having cheap batteries when they give your car a low milage.
About charging speed: in the holiday season the gas stations at the French Autoroutes are full of cars, sometimes even up to the exit of the Autoroute. And people are in and out within 5 minutes. What if everybody needed an hour, just to get enough energy to get to the next gas station?
The Dutch autoclub has a rule for safe driving: drive 2 hours, rest 15 minutes,. Well at this moment that could be for EV’s: drive 2 hours, find a place to spend the night.
Handheld lights have similar requirements as “higher performance” electric vehicles, or cell phones, where energy density is king.
I can see a market for low(er) cost, lower energy density battery packs for shorter distance journies, dropping kids off at school, going to shops, etc.
Or even stationary battery packs for home or grid storage…
The artificial intelligence (AI) seems playing a significant role in reshaping various industries. Some researchers think AI will also be a key force in developing future batteries. There’s a wide range of tools under the AI umbrella that will help make better batteries for different applications. By using the power of AI to discover new materials, optimize designs & manufacturing processes, and improve the performance and sustainability of batteries, the researchers told it can help to drive the global transition towards a cleaner and more efficient energy future.
How do you think the role of AI in the development of new batteries? Feel free to share your thougths!
Sure, as seen with other AI driven science (like Alphafold for proteins), there will be innovations that improve cell technology.
The bottleneck, in my opinion, is the raw materials for making cells- everyone wants “green technology” but nobody wants mining- mostly because the lay person imagines mining like it was in the 1960s, when in reality, most modern mines in “western countries” are strictly regulated.
I do agree there are a few, fairly recent, industrial/environmental incidents and ongoing social issues on a number of sites- these do highlight room for improvement but the majority of sites are well run and operate without issue.
There is a video about testing a new 18650 sodium-ion battery. The reviewer measured the battery capacity was around 1300mAh, with discharging from 4V to 2V. The sodium-ion battery seems having a lower capacity vs the same size lithium battery.
While, it’s said that the sodium-ion battery can be discharged to 0V without causing irreversible damage to it. Bigger voltage difference between full and low charge, hopefully safer. Besides, the sodium-ion battery has superior low temperature performance. It claims the sodium-ion battery can retain 95% its capacity at -20℃and 92% and -30℃. And cycle life is up to 4000 cycles. But these features have been independently verified yet.
The sodium-ion battery is coming to the market. Do you think it’s a potential ahead?
Interesting, and thanks for posting. But the 1300mAh kind of kills it for me (and I believe most people) as it’s about 1/3 of what a good Li-Ion provides. Maybe when the technology improves and they can do at least 2500mAh.
That said, deep-discharge tolerance, long life cycles and good cold-temp performance are both desirable IMO, let’s see how they develop.
It’s going to fill a niche. Backup for equipment or sensors that have another primary power like solar or grid. Low energy needs but has to always work outdoor equipment. Weather stations, relay station, AED machines in developing areas, come to mind. For flashlights, not yet. This looks like a rugged replacement for LiFePO4.
On thing folks forget is that most EVs leave the house with a full state of charge. In comparison many gas cars need to fill up before heading out. Not needing that first stop reduces the demand for chargers a fairly significant amount.
Tesla is getting around 2 to 2 1/2 hours of drive time with 15-20 minutes of charging. This is in the current state of affairs, with chargers increasing in output yearly this number will only go down.
the voltage specs I see are too low for flashlight applications without boost
Increasing the use of boost drivers in the flashlight world would not be a bad thing. When I recommend Convoy lights, for example I favor the 6V LEDs in models that offer them because the boost driver is more efficient and better regulated than the linear driver.
The capacity of these batteries is what makes them uninteresting to me at the moment. 3.9 Wh is less capacity than today’s best 14500s, but in 18650 size.
【New】 Will bigger Li-ion batteries become a trend?
The big size 46800 and 46950 Li-ion batteries seem to have found their niche in some new powerful lights and lanterns. Some flashlight lovers think bigger batteries are definitely a plus. They have advantages in capacity, no multi-cell voltage issues. And charging one battery is much easier and safer than 3S or even 3P cells.
While, as for charging efficiency, it may take most the day to get a big 46800 or 46950 fully charged via the charging port on the light. But you can charge three or four 21700 with 2A at once more quickly. Besides, to compare the energy density among those Li-ion batteries, the 21700 battery seems still the optimal choice.
Do you think the trend towards big batteries is the future? And some users told they are also interested in external charger for these big batteries. Will it only cater to a smaller, niche market. How about your view on this?
IMHO it depends on the application and preferences.
Me, personally, I’m happy to trade long runtime for light weight. I don’t mind changing batteries every 2 hours. Lighter flashlight suits better all my applications : night cycling, headlamp, thrower for short bursts.
As soon as I bring the memories of my MF04 I’m sure I’m through with big heavy flashlights.
For cars those are definitely interesting - I think the BYD Seagull was the first mass produced car sold with (probably BYD made) NaIon? Not sure if Chery with CATL cells was first.
With a battery pack making up most of the price of a modern BEV, cutting battery costs by a factor of 2-3 (not sure how cheap NaIon are, exactly), as well as increasing cycle life and quick-charge-capabilities drastically, IMO makes up a very good compromise for the lowered energy density. Also, no thermal runaway possible as far as I know. Since the cells live longer, one can make up for that by putting in more cells in harder-to-swap places - as the necessity for a NaIon pack needing swapping before the rest of the car is done for in the first place is low.
In flashlights, cellphones, notebooks we simply have no space to compensate by putting more cells. Current state of technology NaIon will IMO not be relevant in those markets. But NaIon cells are brand new, compared to ~3 decades of development and improvement put into LiIon. If you compare some of the first 18650s with modern ones, tech has come a very long way.
