The Future of Sodium Ion Batteries Thanks to CATL of China

Monday - September 4 2023, 17:43 UTC - 1 year ago

CATL of China is mass producing generation 1 sodium ion batteries starting next month. With the future low price of sodium ion, these batteries would make for insanely cheap fixed storage products like the Tesla Megapack and Powerwalls. CATL's batteries would last 10-15 years and cost around $4/kWh, making them ten times cheaper than current energy storage batteries. With all these benefits, it is easy to see why CATL's batteries are receiving such positive attention.

CATL of China is mass producing generation 1 sodium ion batteries starting next month. The first factory has about a 40 GWH per year capacity.

China has 16 out of 20 globally planned or built sodium battery factories according to Benchmark Minerals. CATL’s first-generation sodium battery generates 160-watt-hours per kilogram. This is 10% less energy than iron LFP batteries and 40% less than mass produced nickel batteries. CATL plans to increase the energy density of next generation sodium ion to 200 Wh/kg. CATL’s sodium-ion batteries will be used by China’s Chery, the first automaker to use the technology.

The first generation sodium ion are a bit cheaper than LFP but the volumes will not be worldchanging. However, the second generation sodium ion could reach $40 per kWh. Iron LFP batteries could get to $50/kWh with really high volume and efficiency at the cell level. The future low price of sodium ion would make for insanely cheap fixed storage products like the Tesla Megapack and Powerwalls.

They also do not have practical material limits. There is no shortage of salt or soda ash. The United States has about 90% of the world’s readily mined reserves of soda ash. Wyoming has 47 billion tons of mineable soda ash in the Green River basin. There would be hundreds of TWH of power storage from each billion tons of soda ash.

Based on material costs of $4 per kWh there could be $8 to $10 per kWh sodium ion batteries in the future. This would be ten times cheaper than energy storage batteries today.

In 2019, annual demand for soda ash was about 58 million tons and by 2021, that jumped to 63 million tons. The Wyoming mine, which the company is calling Project West, has the potential to produce 3 million tons to start and is scalable, so the company can increase production later. To facilitate soda ash exports, the company received a permit to export 14 million tons from a Stockton, California, port terminal. The mining will be done with an in-situ process to extract soda ash from trona ore. The ore is then processed into soda ash. They will capture and recycle the water.

The future of sodium-ion batteries thanks to CATL of China is very bright. CATL’s batteries can be used for residential and industrial uses, and if the energy density reaches then desired level of 200 Wh/kg, they could be used in electric vehicles as well. CATL’s batteries are expected to last 10-15 years, meaning that consumers wouldn’t have to replace their batteries as often, saving them money in the long run. Additionally, the cost of soda ash, a key component in the battery, is expected to stay around $4/kWh, meaning that the batteries are expected to be ten times cheaper than current energy storage batteries. CATL’s view of the future is an exciting one: cheaper energy storage batteries across the board, longer battery life, and more efficient mining practices. With all these benefits, it’s easy to see why CATL’s sodium-ion batteries are receiving such positive attention.