Sodium battery: the hottest focus of the current market

The auction price of lithium ore has reached a new level, and the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate has soared, forcing the industrialization of sodium batteries and the replacement of application scenarios; currently, sodium batteries have become the hottest focus in the market.

In transforming the global energy structure, new energy vehicles and energy storage applications continue to develop beyond expectations, so lithium resources' importance is self-evident. Na-ion batteries were also researched almost simultaneously with lithium-ion batteries in the late 1970s. As the supply of lithium resources continues to be tight, sodium batteries are expected to become a supplement to lithium batteries due to their excellent performance. The main weakness of sodium-ion batteries is energy density, but they are better in cost, low temperature, fast charging, and thermal stability.

Presently, relevant domestic companies are actively deploying the field of sodium batteries to promote their industrialization; Because lithium batteries are becoming increasingly expensive,  sodium-ion batteries have regained attention. Although the technical path of sodium-ion batteries is not entirely unified, overall, The industrial chain is still similar; most of the production equipment is compatible, and sodium batteries can be produced by transforming existing lithium battery production lines.

Currently, the three types of cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries have their advantages and disadvantages, and the competition between the three primary cathode materials will continue. In the short term, layered oxides are less difficult to mass-produce, have excellent comprehensive performance, and have become the current mainstream cathode route. The technology development trend is single crystal. In the long run, the three major routes go hand in hand. Layered oxides focus on energy density, Prussian blue focus on low cost and polyanions focus on cycle life. Layered metal oxides and polyanionic compounds are the same system as ternary and LFP batteries, respectively, and have a good foundation for industrialization conversion.

Sodium batteries and lithium batteries have a perfect complementary relationship. Sodium batteries are used in application scenarios that do not require high energy density, such as start-stop batteries, electric two-wheelers, low-speed vehicles, A00-class mini-vehicles, base station backup, electric power energy storage, and other fields are expected to replace lead-acid batteries and lithium batteries partially. Thereby driving the growth of the sodium battery market; there is still the possibility of "mixing and matching of lithium and sodium" in the future.

Cost is the most critical parameter in determining the application of energy storage technology and the scale of industrial development. In the future, with the upgrade and iteration of the sodium battery material system, the cycle life will increase; the LCOE of the power station can be further reduced to meet the requirements for the commercial application of large-scale energy storage. In the long run, sodium batteries have the potential to be comparable to LFP batteries.