Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) said its sodium-ion battery has reached an energy density of 175 Wh/kg, supporting a driving range of
Interesting that it took so long. I assumed that Sodium-ion would have hit the mass market one or two years ago when CATL announced they started mass-producing these cells in 2023.
I guess the thing is that installing batteries at a large scale only really makes sense when you have a lot of excessive solar energy that you want to store, and we’re simply not there yet. China produces sth like 10% of its electricity from solar these days, and that’s simply not excessive enough to make it worthwhile to store the excess solar energy production. It’s all consumed immediately, almost. Only when we hit like 50% solar energy generation, will there be excesses significantly enough to consider storing them, is my guess.
It must be a question of what “mass market” mean? I’ve been to sodium battery installations using CATL batteries and I’m rather far from any of the markets that are hot spots…
Interesting that it took so long. I assumed that Sodium-ion would have hit the mass market one or two years ago when CATL announced they started mass-producing these cells in 2023.
For example, Yiwei debuted its first sodium-ion battery in an electric car in late 2023.
You can order So-Ion cells on AliExpress since a year or so, that sounds reasonably mass-market to me.
That’s true, but they had almost no success in the automotive world up until next year (probably).
Their properties make them a great fit for grid storage, so even if they never become a thing in the automotive world, they still can become a hit.
I must admit that I didn‘t even think of any applications of this battery tech outside of the mobility sector.
I guess the thing is that installing batteries at a large scale only really makes sense when you have a lot of excessive solar energy that you want to store, and we’re simply not there yet. China produces sth like 10% of its electricity from solar these days, and that’s simply not excessive enough to make it worthwhile to store the excess solar energy production. It’s all consumed immediately, almost. Only when we hit like 50% solar energy generation, will there be excesses significantly enough to consider storing them, is my guess.
It must be a question of what “mass market” mean? I’ve been to sodium battery installations using CATL batteries and I’m rather far from any of the markets that are hot spots…
I mean does anyone either bother reading the press releases?
They’re shipping packs for assembly into vehicles to Europe q1 2026