[conservatism_IS_compassion]

1. Sodium is 2.3% of the world’s crust. It is over 1000 times more abundant than lithium. There are places in America where the dirt is half sodium. IOW, there is no material cost/availability bottleneck between the design of production of the battery and mass production of the battery.

2. CATL (yes, a Chinese company) is the largest producer of rechargeable batteries worldwide. Its word on actual product availability can be taken to the bank. This is not vaporware, albeit the article does gloss over the fact that for a given storage capacity sodium is distinctly heavier than lithium.

3. If sodium-ion batteries are enough cheaper, and sufficiently faster charging, than Lithium-ion batteries, they could be used in cheap, not necessarily small but relatively short ranged, vehicles having less battery in them than better cars with Lithium-ion batteries having better range. The inconvenience of short range could be tolerable if the charging time were fast enough. And hey - I did say such vehicles would be cheap.

4. Vehicle considerations aside, sodium-ion battery qualities of economy and relative insensitivity to temperature correspond to excellent suitability for stationary storage - whether sited centrally or sited at customer facilities, including individual homes. Given the low and declining price of solar power generating panels, there is a school of thought that “too much” solar panel capacity along with a practical amount of stationary storage can dramatically reduce the need for any other form of electric power capacity. Not to put too fine a point on it, Tony Seba claims that that solution can, in an economically practical way, eliminate the need for any other form of power supply. And have the obvious advantage of making electric power practically free during typical sunny conditions.

[marktwain]

obvious advantage of making electric power practically free during typical sunny conditions.

The power is not "practically free". You have to consider the capital costs of both the generating panels and the storage and the maintenance of both.

Lots of potential there, because it allows for dispersed power, especially for off grid scenarios.

The big thing missing from the article is any mention of price.

Price is essential to understanding the practical potential. Just because sodium is common, does not mean batteries made using it are going to be cheap.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

https://tonyseba.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/RethinkingEnergy2020-2030-LRR.pdf

If you download that PDF and scroll down to page 8, you’ll see a graph which purports to tell you how much (or from your perspective, how little) battery is needed to back up a solar/wind electric power source. Tony Seba’s trick (if he is indeed its author, rather than simply promoter) is to propose a big-to-enormous overbuilding of solar power capacity. Depending on geography.

According to the theory, less sunlight can be compensated with more solar panels and more batteries, but nowhere in the inhabited world are the quantities of solar and wind prohibitive.

Again, the definition of “prohibitive” depends on the price of the solar panels and the price of the batteries - and according to Wright’s Law as Seba interprets it, time and mass production of such will drive the prices down into the “not prohibitive” range.

Tony Seba’s bottom line is that “going green” will be less expensive than continuing to rely on steam power for electrical power generation. I don’t have his supporting numbers, and I can’t check his work. But it is, at the very least, an interesting thesis.

[MtnClimber]

What happens when water gets on sodium and there is air present (oxygen)? Here is a hint....BANG!

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Are these e-bike batteries the ones that are lighting up peoples’ apartments in NYC?

[Blueflag]

Another benefit is lower cost per kWh for STATIC electricity such as solar batteries. Dollars per kWh is my primary “*I* care” about this.

Looks promising. Maybe not for vehicles just yet, but certainly for fixed installs.

[Blood of Tyrants]

So the battery pack will be both heavier and probably be twice as expensive as a ICE car.

And you are almost forced to purchase a new car because after 8-10 years you will have to replace the battery pack at a cost that is more than the value of the car. So your 8-10 year old car is basically worthless.

And the infrastructure STILL isn’t in place. Wind and solar WILL NOT be reliable or available enough unless we build wind and solar farms the size of Nevada. The greeniacs are absolutely opposed to more gas or coal generated power and just the mention of nuclear has them putting their fingerws in their ears and going “LALALALALA”.

AND ou will need 20 charging stations to replace ONE gas pump.

AND you will need to ate least double the power generation to power all the charging stations.

AND it will cost you several thousand dollars to install a charging station at your house.

[central_va]

Green makes me see red.

[Greenidgypsy]

Made in China…..according to their site.

[shotgun]

Now the Chinese are going to put all those poor African children out of work

[nicollo]

Author makes a fine statement, if in the inverse, of the limits of EV use:

... has the advantages of high-energy density, fast-charging capability, excellent thermal stability, great low-temperature performance and high-integration efficiency, among others.

As others note here, funny how he doesn't brag about its cost.

[sasquatch]

Just add water.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

"Tell me about the rabbits, George. Tell me again about the rabbits."

[catnipman]

“CATL’s battery capacity is expected to reach more than 670 GWh by 2025”

wow! that should be enough gigawatts to get back to the future!

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

An essential thing is the charge/discharge graph. Just by looking at it, you can tell what the best application for the battery will be.

[aimhigh]

"CATL Will Mass Produce Sodium-Ion Batteries in 2023"

It's now the end of 2023. Are they mass producing these yet?