Body Surfer:  "China has built a car with a sodium ion battery. Faster charge and better in cold weather."

Sodium ion batteries, like many of the intense research into improving lithium batteries, has been "in the works" for a long time.  

I like the opening critical statement from an article in Clean Techica back in April of 2023 that investigates sodium ion batteries, it starts with an overview of the resistance by the "environmental activist" crowd and their tag alongs:

"Lithium is abundant, but difficult to extract and purify for use in batteries. Last year, the price of lithium carbonate peaked at over $80,000 per ton, although it has come down considerably since then. Oddly enough, people who don’t bat an eye about oil and gas wells within a few feet of homes and schools are losing their minds about the horrors of lithium mining. It should be noted that no lithium mining takes place next door to homes and schools, but common sense and logic are not prevalent among the fossil fuel crowd."

I confess to adding the bold type on the last portion of the last sentence above.  Couldn't help myself!

Another paragraph from that April 2023 article changes the mood a litle:  "Despite being chemically similar, sodium-ion batteries today have considerably lower energy density than lithium batteries. That’s a detriment, but bear in mind that not too long ago, LFP batteries were woefully deficient in their energy storage capability. But today’s LFP batteries are nearly as energy dense as lithium-ion batteries were just a few years ago. Things are moving quickly in battery development. The sodium-ion batteries available today will likely improve just as quickly."

Yup, did it again, bold type that is.

And stealing another paragraph from the same article:  "On the other hand, sodium batteries are much less affected by low temperatures and appear to be able to handle more charge/discharge cycles than lithium-ion batteries. The latest sodium batteries do not require scarce materials like cobalt and nickel. Both CATL and BYD say they are about to introduce EV battery packs that have a mix of lithium-ion and sodium-ion cells. The thinking is the sodium cells will address the low temperature performance issue and the lithium cells will take care of the need for good performance in daily driving."

Guilty again, re:  bold type, that is.

So, at least in this article the viewpoint is that the sodium cells would not be an exclusive finding in the new cars from CATL/BYD partnership.  They aren't throwing away the baby with the bath water.

There is that parameter of basic physics that somehow keeps slapping the dream of replacing lithium batteries with sodium ion batteries right square in the electrons:

"The New York Times points out that because sodium-ion batteries have lower energy densities, more of them are needed to equal the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries. That means more space is needed for a given amount of energy. That’s a problem for use in vehicles, but not an issue for grid-scale battery storage. Utilities that switch from lithium to sodium can simply put twice as many big batteries in an empty lot near solar panels or wind turbines, the Times says."

Yup, guilty again... bold face added by me.  Sue me!

Well, the New York Times is not above dishing out some very sloppy journalism, but with this particular deciphering of the bones, tea leaves and phrenology combined with astrological perceptions they seem to have hit one of the basic problems on the head.  After all, even a broken clock shows correct time twice a day.  Why can't the New York Times be right once in a while, eh?

See the article, titled:  

The Sodium-Ion Battery Is Coming To Production Cars This Year

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/22/the-sodium-ion-battery-is-coming-to-production-cars-this-year/

Bottom line seems to be that the sodium ion battery is not ready for stand alone, by itself and without "something else to help" ready for "Prime Time" as the only source of power in mobile applications, i.e. "cars", especially if the bug a boo of range anxiety is addressed head on in the process.   Doesn't mean it won't get there, but it won't be overnight.

LAC and LAAC still have "time" to develop their mines into full production and make a tidy profit before all of the technical work is completed and this particular postulated replacement is able to stand alone without its big brother Lithium in a side car, so to speak, for mobile applications, unless you want to have an even heavier EV going down the road than we do now with the Lithium Battery powered EVs and you want to bang your head again at the wall regarding the charge of limited driving range in the first place.  Then again, what is limited range to one person may be expansive range to another consumer.  That's what makes horse races and driver preferances in the market place.

Hybridization isn't such a bad idea, whether you are talking about a car that has both an ICE and a EV capacity or when you are talking about an EV that has 2 or more types of batteries on board.... as long as one of those batteries is lithium based, eh Earnie?

Keep in mind, that there is just as much intense research, maybe more, going on in the lithium camp of battery researchers as there is in the enemy camp.  It is, like everything else in life, a complex issue and usually beyond the ability of the average "J"degree graduate to both appreciate and comprehend.  So, for investors in lithium mining it pays to keep a jaundiced eye on anything that "Sally J Degree or George, the new J degree, God's Gift to Journalism has concocted, especially if she or he did it on there own.  9 times out of 10 they won't know the Anode from the Cathode now that they have their J degree, just like when they were back in J class at Junior College.

Having taken my pot shots at the whole Journalism establishment, I think it is only fair to offer something of an opion in contradistinction to my own (all of that "Fair and Balanced" BS).  So an article that is more promising regarding possible inroads of sodium ion batteries into the realm of transportation is linked below:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/cathode-innovation-makes-sodium-ion-battery-an-attractive-option-for-electric-vehicles/ar-AA1mEGlQ

I would like to point out that the issue of the disparity in weight between lithium ion batteries and sodium ion batteries is something that even this current article doesn't totally sugar coat in its presentation.

I will concede that the author of the piece immediately linked above (not the first one!) does have journalsim credentials that stand up to whatever slings and barbs I might have thrown otherwise at some of the less talented (most J degree recipients) colleagues of his.  Mr. Joseph E. Harmon is well prepared and knowledgeable to contribute his view of what has been happening recently at Argonne National Laboratories in the area of sodium ion battery innovations, more than qualified.

"Joseph E. Harmon has been a science writer, editor, and manager for four decades in several divisions within Argonne National Laboratory. He is now working as science communicator and manager in support of Argonne’s Physical Sciences and Engineering Directorate. As an independent scholar, he has co-authored six scholarly books on scientific communication with the late Alan G. Gross. Harmon and Gross won Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication from the National Council of Teachers of English for The Scientific Literature: A Guided Tour."

So, I will take his positive assessment into consideration when considering the Gestalt of the subject of sodium ion batteries vs lithium ion batteries.  I don't believe he is advocating that sodium ion batteries will completely replace lithium ion batteries, but.... read his article, linked above, and decide for yourself.  

Onward through the FOG!

Okiedo