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CATL launches sodium batteries: extremely durable and stable at –40°C (evmarket.ro)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.ml
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[–] 18 points 9 months ago (11 children)

Since lithium prices crashed, sodium batteries' main advantage of being cheaper has vanished.

They're also lower capacity for the same weight.

The best application is where cold might be an issue, and weight isn't. So, for large storage. Or, where cold is always an issue, such as in the Arctic.

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago

    This is assuming an economy of scale doesn't make sodium batteries cheaper once again because of the ease of working with industrial quantities of sodium as opposed to lithium

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    My Lithium solar batteries can't charge today while the sun is out shining brightly, because it's below freezing and I don't have battery heaters installed. They're in an outdoor shed so they can't burn down my house.

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  • [+] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)
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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    I've learned a lot from reading RV forums and stuff like that. It's common to install DC-powered battery heating pads that run on relatively low watts to keep batteries warm enough to charge. I'll probably do that too.

    To keep a person warm, you'd probably need more power like at least 250-700 watts to run a heat lamp or small space heater. But that is easily doable with solar and batteries now.

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  • [–] 22 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    There isn't enough lithium available on this planet to power a technological civilization. No such problem with abundant sodium. Also, I'd rather not have a lithium chemistry battery powering my home, because it's a fire hazard.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    There isn’t enough lithium available on this planet to power a technological civilization.

    of course there is, and everyone is assuming lithium won't be recycled.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago

    Why do you assume economies of scale don't work on sodium ion batteries? We are just launching the first commercial products, which indeed is a hard time for new technology and sodium does need to pass the hurdle of "get to scale", but sodium has the potential to be dirt cheap once fully scaled and realized.

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