So every major automaker has announced plans to build lithium-ion battery giga factories. Tesla, Volkswagen, BYD, Ford, and others have plans to build giant gigafactories. In India Ola Electric and the Tata group have plans to make massive plants and manufacture these cells at a large scale, the aim of building these vast factories at an immense scale is to reduce prices.

What are Sodium-Ion Batteries?

Sodium-ion batteries (Na-ion batteries) are a type of rechargeable battery that use sodium ions as the charge carriers in the electrolyte. They are similar to the more common lithium-ion batteries, but they use sodium as the key component in the battery's cathode instead of using lithium. Sodium is an abundant and low-cost element, making sodium-ion batteries a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage applications.

Na-ion batteries have several advantages over lithium-ion batteries, such as lower production costs and a higher abundance of critical components. However, they also have some disadvantages, such as a lower energy density, meaning they require larger cells to store the same amount of energy. They can be less stable than lithium-ion batteries, which can affect the battery's overall performance and lifespan.

Despite these challenges, sodium-ion battery technology is an active area of research and development, to improve their performance, safety, and durability, so that they can be used in a variety of applications, including electric vehicles, grid-scale energy storage, and portable electronics.

Problems with Lithium Ion Batteries

But lithium has a fundamental problem demand for the element is so great that applications including electric vehicles portable electronic devices and stationary energy storage units that lithium mining companies are struggling to keep up. In addition, about 90 % of the world's lithium supply is controlled by Chinese companies the world needs to do something about this, and yes changes are happening to solve the problem.

Let's dive straight into the prices of lithium. Lithium has gone to an insane level, the CEO of Tesla Elon Musk tweeted in April that Tesla might have to get into the mining and refining directly to affect it at scale unless costs improve there is no shortage of the element itself as lithium is almost everywhere on earth but the pace of extraction and refinement is languid. Musk pointed to data from the information service world statistics showing that the price of lithium hydroxide had risen to $78,032 per metric ton from merely 6800 per ton in 2019. As he says there is a lot of lithium last year the world mined a hundred thousand metric tons of lithium for use in consumer electronics and electric vehicles the world's usable reserves are around 14 million metric tons while the amount of the proven reserves to around 62 million tons. So there is a lot of lithium out there even if we continue to use lithium-ion batteries for the next 20 years but the mining industry needs to catch up with the demand.

Most promising Alternative Sodium-Ion batteries

So the alternative is to manufacture batteries based on sodium chemistry but multiple automakers are seeking a secure supply chain for battery materials. The big issue with sodium-ion batteries is that they can store only about 2/3rd of the energy of lithium-ion batteries of equivalent size. But the energy density is steadily increasing and they are reaching the levels which are found in lithium-ion phosphate batteries which are the safest kind of lithium-ion batteries. None of the sodium ion batteries are commercial yet but serious competition for lithium could soon be on the way.

Chemistry of Sodium and Lithium

If you look at the periodic table of elements lithium and sodium are similar metals they are both alkaline metals and both have one electron in the outermost shell. Sodium is bigger and heavier than lithium they both are in the same group. Lithium right now is very expensive and sodium is quite cheap. The price of lithium hydroxide has risen to 78032 dollars per metric ton while the cost of sodium hydroxide is below 800 per metric ton. 

Also, sodium is universally available so there are lots of advantages for sodium-ion batteries we have been hearing about the game-changing battery chemistry like solid-state batteries or graphene batteries, or dual carbon with carbon anode and carbon cathode batteries but those will take a little bit more time may be more than a decade to materialize in my opinion.

So the most promising chemistry is sodium ion which will go into production as early as 2023. The process to extract the raw material is around 100 times cheaper however the battery pack contains lots of other stuff that apart from the elemental lithium or sodium analyzed field that sodium ion cells will be 20 to 40 % cheaper. 

But the challenge will be to bring the technology to scale and we can expect large sodium iron gigafactories only in the mid-2020s the good part is that the manufacturing process is very similar to lithium-ion cell manufacturing, so all of these facilities can be used for either.

Benefits of Sodium Ion batteries

Apart from the cost, there is no risk of thermal runaway with sodium ion technology, in fact, with sodium ion technology you can discharge completely to 0 % and then transport them there is zero risk of them catching fire it is very safe to transport. Another benefit is low-temperature performance this is not much of a factor for India but it's good news for people using EVs in the Himalayas, you don't have to warm up the battery it works great from minus 20 degrees Celsius to plus 65 degrees Celcius which are very well taken care of the entire temperature range of the subcontinent. The biggest problem with sodium iron is the gravimetric energy density is relatively low it's 70 to 160 Wh/kg. 

CATL the Chinese battery behemoth has claimed to have reached that level, and the energy density is approaching that of LFP batteries. So for ultra-efficient vehicles like scooters or motorcycles LFP batteries and sodium iron can work fine.

Which Companies are developing and investing in sodium-ion batteries?

The three major companies working on sodium ion cells are Ferradion a UK-based startup, natron energy bay area san Francisco-based startup, and CATL a huge Chinese battery behemoth. 

CATL is one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world and they announced last year about manufacturing sodium-ion batteries in 2023. 

Ferradion is a small UK startup that has been working on this technology for many years and is bought out by our very own reliance industries, which will build several gigafactories within India by 2024. And reliance is bullish on sodium ion cell technology. 

Neutron is a company based at Stanford University they have a chemistry that uses Prussian blue for both anode and cathode they can achieve an energy density of 70 watts per kilometer per kilogram, which is low but their main focus is energy storage. The life cycle is crazy they claim more than a lakh cycle on their cells while LFP cells have only around 2000 cycles if they can improve the gravimetric energy density they can be a serious player. Just imagine a scooter battery that can be used for a million kilometers it is ridiculous it will outlive the entire civilization.

CATL claims they will reach 200 watt-hours per kilogram which would be better than LFP cells as the Ferradion has reached 180 watts per kilogram. So there is a lot of potentials here the exciting thing is the capability for sodium-ion cells to be recyclable. You can recycle close to 90. So this is a hugely recyclable battery and this is one of the big advantages for the sodium ions. I am very excited that three large companies including Reliance and CATL are pumping money into sodium ion manufacturing, the energy density for the next three to four years may not be ideal for large cars.

But sodium ions should easily fit in electric scooters e-bikes small cars and three-wheelers and of course, grid-level energy storage, if the battery was 30 to 40 % cheaper that would reduce the cost of EVs as well, and things, have already begun to heat up. Chinese scooter startup NIU, which sells electric scooters worldwide, has already announced plans to launch a sodium ion-based scooter in 2023. NIU’s CEO lee yan told Chinese media that NIU wants to keep costs under control but did not specify who will manufacture the battery packs.

Reliance New Energy Solar buys Farradion

India's chairman of reliance industries Mukesh Ambani said we welcome Ferradion and its experienced team to the reliance family. This will further strengthen and build upon our ambition to create one of the most advanced and integrated new energy ecosystems to put India at the forefront of leading battery technologies. 

The sodium ion technology developed by Ferradion provides a globally leading energy storage and safely sustainable battery solution that provides high energy density and is significantly cost-competitive.

Which Indian Companies are developing and investing in Sodium-Ion Batteries?

Several Indian companies are investing in the development and commercialization of sodium-ion batteries. Some of the notable companies in this field include:

Amrita Center for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine (ACNSMM): Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a leading research institute in India is conducting research on sodium-ion batteries.

CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI): a premier research institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in India, has a strong focus on sodium-ion battery research and development.

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.: Amara Raja Batteries, based in Hyderabad, is a leading manufacturer of batteries in India and is exploring the development of sodium-ion batteries for energy storage applications.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL): BHEL, a government-owned company based in New Delhi, is one of the largest engineering and manufacturing companies in India. It has been involved in the research and development of sodium-ion batteries and has developed prototypes for use in renewable energy applications.

Bharat Energy Storage Technology Private Limited (BEST): is a company focused on the development and commercialization of energy storage technologies, including sodium-ion batteries.

Exicom Tele-Systems: Exicom Tele-Systems, based in New Delhi, is a leading provider of energy storage solutions in India and has developed sodium-ion batteries for use in energy storage applications.

Indo-US MIM Tech Private Limited: Indo-US MIM Tech, based in Pune, is a manufacturer of metal injection molded parts and is also exploring the development of sodium-ion batteries for energy storage applications.

These are some of the notable Indian companies that are investing in the development of sodium-ion batteries, but there may be others as well. The Indian government has also been supporting the development of sodium-ion batteries through various initiatives and programs, which are expected to drive further growth in this field in the coming years.

Applications of Sodium-Ion Batteries

In addition, it has wide-use applications from mobility to grid-scale storage. Sodium ions can be the real deal in this technology compared to all the other chemistries in the coming years, which are brilliant. This decade sodium ion cells will go hand in hand with LFP cells and turbocharge the EV revolution.