Mass production of sodium ion batteries is both necessary and possible!

Although the current development of sodium-ion batteries has been ups and downs, and there are constant doubts about its mass production, in terms of the current macro situation, the characteristics and potential of sodium-ion batteries themselves, its mass production is both necessary and possible.

1. The “double carbon” goal is urgent and lithium resources are facing depletion

China has proposed to achieve carbon peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Currently, there are only 6 years left before carbon peaks in 2030. Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP need to be reduced by more than 65% compared to 2005. The proportion of non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption must be reduced by more than 60%. The total installed capacity of wind power and solar power generation will be To reach more than 1.2 billion kilowatts, the time is tight and the tasks are heavy. It is necessary to accelerate the development of clean energy. On the other hand, automobiles are still one of the key targets of China’s emission reduction and carbon reduction (the average annual carbon emissions of the road transportation industry will account for about 1/10 of the country’s total in 2023). At present, the power batteries equipped in China’s new energy vehicles are mainly lithium-ion batteries, but the global shortage of lithium resources is severe and may be exhausted within ten years.

Under the double attack, there is an urgent need to find new battery routes. Sodium-ion batteries have an important mission.

2. “Sodium-lithium” technology is consistent and production lines are compatible

From a technical point of view, sodium-ion batteries and lithium-ion batteries are brothers in the same field. Not only are their technical principles consistent, but even their manufacturing systems are fully compatible. The lithium-ion battery production line can produce sodium-ion batteries by changing the materials, which can help complete Rapid deployment of production capacity.

Not only that, compared to lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries also have multiple advantages such as cost advantages, high and low temperature performance, high safety, and power characteristics.

First of all, the crustal abundance of sodium ions, the main charge carrier of sodium-ion batteries, is about 2.36%, which is much higher than the 0.002% of lithium ions. There are abundant resource reserves. At the same time, various countries can use seawater to prepare sodium salt, so the resources are evenly distributed and there is no The upstream raw materials are limited and stuck. Secondly, sodium ion compounds are highly accessible, stable and low-priced, less than 1/50 of the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate (the price of sodium carbonate is 3,000 yuan/ton, and the price of lithium carbonate once exceeded 500,000 yuan/ton at its peak). Compared with lithium-ion batteries, the comprehensive cost can be reduced by 30-40%.

In addition, sodium-ion batteries have the advantage of wide temperature resistance, with good capacity retention in the temperature range of -40°C to 80°C, and can cope with more extreme weather; and sodium-ion batteries have the advantage of being overcharged or short-circuited. Under normal circumstances, thermal runaway is less likely to occur, which can reduce the risk of accidents such as spontaneous combustion; in addition, during the charge and discharge process, the cathode material structure of the sodium-ion battery is stable and has no phase change. After 1,000 cycles of charge and discharge, the specific capacity retention rate is As high as 94.6%, while the general specific capacity retention rate standard in the battery industry is about 80%.

However, the disadvantage of sodium-ion batteries is that they are far inferior to lithium-ion batteries in terms of energy density, the key performance indicator of the battery. Low energy density means that sodium batteries store much less energy than lithium batteries for the same volume or weight. For electric vehicles, energy density is directly related to cruising range. This also results in limited application scenarios of sodium-ion batteries under current conditions.

Despite this, sodium-ion batteries have multiple advantages in other aspects that make them highly cost-effective and have ideal applications in multiple scenarios.

3.Replace lead-acid and supplement lithium battery

First of all, the energy density, lifespan, environmental protection, and support of policies and regulations of sodium-ion batteries are comparable to those of lead-acid batteries, and they are expected to be the first to replace the lead-acid market.

There are three main uses of lead-acid batteries: small power batteries for two-wheelers, start-stop batteries for automobiles, and backup batteries for communication base stations. Among them, the market size of two-wheeled electric vehicles alone cannot be underestimated. According to the “New National Standard” document for electric bicycles issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, after a three-year transition period, 250 million over-standard two-wheeled electric vehicles will be retired and replaced in my country, and a huge market with a cumulative trillion yuan level has arrived for sodium-ion batteries.

Secondly, sodium-ion batteries are expected to replace low-end lithium batteries and win the A00-class electric vehicle market.

A00-class electric vehicles, also called mini-cars, focus on the low-end market, and customers are more price-sensitive. Batteries account for a large proportion of the cost, and the stability of battery costs has an important impact on the sales of A00-class cars. At the same time, A00-class vehicles are positioned as daily mobility scooters and have lower requirements for battery energy density.

The raw material used in sodium-ion batteries is mainly sodium carbonate, which is in sufficient supply and the risk of price fluctuations is small. The price has remained at around 5,000 yuan/ton for a long time, and the cost advantage is great. And the energy density of sodium-ion batteries can fully meet the cruising range requirements of A00-class vehicles. According to data from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute: the market share of A00-class models has reached 3.8%, and 100% new energy penetration has been achieved.

In addition, in view of the advantages of sodium-ion batteries in wide temperature range, it is expected to form an electric vehicle pattern of “lithium in the south and sodium in the north” with lithium-ion batteries.

As we all know, the charge and discharge capacity and efficiency of lithium-ion batteries are significantly reduced at low temperatures, which may lead to thermal runaway and reduced battery life, causing the Northeast region to become a “vacuum zone” for new energy vehicles. However, sodium-ion batteries have a good capacity retention rate in the temperature range of -40°C to 80°C, which can help new energy vehicle companies deepen their deployment in the Northeast region.

Finally, it is also the brightest application scenario of sodium-ion batteries-energy storage.

The main way to achieve the ultimate goal of carbon neutrality is to develop renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind power to replace fossil energy. However, renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind power are typical intermittent energy sources and are prone to the phenomenon of “abandoning wind and light”. In 2023, my country’s wind and light abandonment will exceed 30 billion kilowatt hours, wasting more than 10 billion yuan.

The ultimate solution to this problem is energy storage, which also determines the infinite breadth of the energy storage market. High safety, excellent high and low temperature performance and long cycle life are the performance requirements for energy storage batteries in changing application scenarios, and low cost is the core competitiveness. The performance characteristics of sodium-ion batteries are highly compatible with the energy storage field.

As mentioned earlier, sodium-ion batteries have better safety performance and high and low temperature performance than lithium-ion batteries, and have great advantages in the fields of power energy storage and communication energy storage in extreme weather. Although the energy density is slightly low, most energy storage application scenarios do not have high requirements for it. At the same time, sodium-ion batteries have broad room for cost reduction and have prominent advantages in the cost-sensitive energy storage field. Therefore, sodium-ion batteries are expected to partially replace lithium-ion batteries in the energy storage market.

My next article will write about the bottlenecks and challenges of mass production of sodium ions. Interested readers, please follow me on LinkedIn.

Shenzhen Behemoth New Energy Co.,Ltd. was founded by a senior team in the battery industry. It is a high-tech enterprise that provides energy storage battery systems, power battery systems, and various customized power solutions and products for users around the world. It has independent intellectual property rights and core technologies.

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