[conservatism_IS_compassion]

BYD makes BEVs and other vehicles, but is also one of the largest manufacturers of rechargeable batteries in its own right.

According to youTuber Brian White, sodium-ion batteries do not now have quite as much charge-discharge cycle life as Lithium-ion batteries do - but still enough to be very serviceable.

Full disclosure: Because I concluded that partly because of the Biden Administration's expensive “Inflation Reduction” Act, rechargeable battery production has accelerated, and - concomitantly - rechargeable battery production has become and is becoming more and more efficient, I have invested in Tesla.

Because sodium ion batteries use only plentiful, easily obtained materials - and because they are relatively insensitive to temperature - they are extremely promising for stationary storage applications in which their higher weight isn’t a significant disadvantage. Thus sodium ion batteries promise to complement solar power which is cheap at noon but inoperative at night. Tesla has, relatively quietly, been selling battery storage and the necessary AC-DC interface and the profit-maximizing dispatch software, to utilities. This business has only begun to show up in Tesla’s quarterly report, but promises to contribute substantially to future earnings.

Note that altho Tesla is dipping its toe into battery manufacture, it is predominately a customer of foreign-based manufacturers of batteries. But of course Tesla has never been averse to accepting federal subsidies which it can be quite profitable without, so it is aggressively working to localize battery sourcing as is strongly incentivized by the “Inflation Reduction” Act. Tesla’s subsidy is obviously a cost to the federal treasury which they are going after. But I blame Biden much more than Elon Musk for that. If he could do it, Biden would make the subsidy apply to everyone except Tesla - seeing that Musk is the proprietor of the country’s largest free speech platform . . .

[G Larry]

If you like Lithium Battery fires, you’ll love Sodium Battery fires.

[butlerweave]

I heard the miles per charge is nothing but government lies and nowhere near the real numbers

[PIF]

So they hold less power which they put out at slower rate. Just what is needed for getting stuck in slow moving traffic, blizzards, long haul trips, crossing mountains, and the bitter cold winter months.

[stylin19a]

higher weight ? wonder how much heavier...

also, sodium doesn’t like to get wet...it reacts energetically to release hydrogen, which then
explodes.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/a-solid-electrolyte-makes-durable-sodium-batteries/

so, could this be considered the “ethanol” for EV’s ?