🌱 What has Northvolt developed?
Northvolt announced in November 2023 that it had produced a battery that replaced lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite with sodium, iron, nitrogen, and carbon. The use of sodium to replace lithium in batteries alone is not a new creation. Several Chinese companies have already done this in the past. What makes Northvolt’s battery different is that it is allegedly “critical mineral-free”. While past Chinese sodium-ion batteries used “critical minerals such as nickel or cobalt to optimise their performance”, Northvolt’s battery is the first to use sodium without other critical minerals to replace lithium.
🌱 Where can sodium be sourced?
As China controls roughly “70% of global lithium refining capacity”, there have been a number of concerns around supply chain security in the battery sector. In light of this, sodium-ion batteries offer a viable alternative “for Western countries seeking to reduce their dependence on China”. Sodium is notably “the sixth most common element on Earth” and it is “1,000 times more abundant than lithium”. The U.S. “holds 92% of the world’s sodium carbonate reserves” and sodium is also “widely available in Europe”. A 2023 BloombergNEF analysis estimated that “sodium batteries could displace 272,000 tonnes of lithium demand by 2035, equivalent to about 7% of the overall market projected for that year”.
🌱 What can the batteries be used for?
Sodium is heavier and more voluminous than lithium. In the same volume, it also stores a lower amount of energy than lithium does. This means that sodium-ion batteries are bulkier than lithium-ion batteries. While this is not an issue for stationary energy storage units, it can be problematic in the context of long-range electric vehicles. Currently, sodium-ion batteries are well-suited for vehicles that do not need “long-range autonomy” such as “two-wheeled scooters and small EVs in cities”. They are also suitable for locally storing excess renewable energy. More research to improve the batteries’ performance is being done.
🌱 What are the advantages?
Producing sodium-ion batteries with locally sourced materials could make them cheaper and more sustainable to produce than lithium-ion batteries. Sodium is notably “cheaper and more abundant” than lithium. In practice, this means that sodium-ion batteries are around 30% cheaper to produce than lithium-ion batteries. Sodium-ion batteries could also help play a role in reducing the carbon emissions of the battery production process, as sodium is “easier and more cost-effective to recycle than lithium”. Moreover, as sodium-ion batteries are more resistant to high temperatures and less likely to catch fire than lithium-ion batteries, they could also “help speed up electrification in regions exposed to extreme heat such as India, Africa and the Middle East”.
💡 Want to learn about the materials, energy use, and environmental and social impacts of an EV battery? Then explore Palsa & Pulk’s interactive visual.
Read more about the development of sodium-ion batteries here:
- https://northvolt.com/articles/northvolt-sodium-ion/
- https://sifted.eu/articles/sodium-ion-northvolt-battery-innovation
- https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/03/22/sodium-ion-batteries-a-viable-alternative-to-lithium/
- https://battery-news.de/en/2023/11/22/northvolt-announces-development-of-sodium-ion-battery/
- https://www.sibattery.com/t/northvolt-unveils-160-wh-kg-sodium-ion-battery/160
- https://think.ing.com/articles/can-sodium-ion-batteries-replace-lithium-ion-batteries/