Sodium-ion Batteries - Replacing Lithium-ion in energy storage anytime soon?

Over the last week sodium-ion batteries have been uppermost in our minds as we met three manufacturers currently producing them and discussed the technical difficulties of production of these new cells with Professor Lu of Gusu Labs here in Suzhou.

Sodium-ion batteries have been the subject of great optimism and fanfare by the likes of CATL who have told us to expect 30% price drops in batteries this year, partly due to the increasing availability of sodium-ion cells. They are also considered to be safer and potentially  longer lasting (in terms of cycles) than equivalent lithium-ion batteries. However their downside is a slightly lower energy density than LiFePO4 batteries that are currently popular for static energy storage applications.

Last week at the Shanghai SNEC PV exhibition at least three companies were extolling their sodium-ion battery production capacity and actively selling cells and battery modules. The companies were Guangdong East Group, ZTT in Nantong and Shuangdeng in Taizhou. The products available include prismatic and cylindrical cells as well as assembled battery modules - so on the face of it a useful range of products from a small  (but undoubtedly growing) number of manufacturers.

Does this mean that the sodium-ion revolution and cheap batteries are here? Probably not. Professor Lu of Gusu labs who are busy developing prototype production lines for sodium batteries for a number of companies suggested that with the exception of CATL and BYD, most companies producing sodium-ion batteries are probably only running small prototyping production lines with capacity around one or thousand units annually. He also confirmed that there remains a choice of anode and cathode materials each of which has their various advantages and disadvantages.

This all raises some questions about the reliability of long term performance of batteries that are still arguably in the prototyping stage - and the lack of large scale production means that the price is still relatively high.

So to answer the original question of whether or not to buy sodium batteries now - we suggest you wait at least until the end of this year and probably better still until 2025 when large scale production lines will be running. 

Hampshire Imports Ltd is a UK company sourcing and importing C&I scale renewable energy systems and low energy products such as LEDs etc to give you the best prices while managing the risks associated with ordering directly from China. I split my time between the UK and China - please contact me if you'd like further information.

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