Sodium promises cheaper and better batteries for electric cars
China’s CATL is taking another step in the development of electric car batteries. The giant is preparing to use sodium ions in their production, which will bring faster charging and lower cost, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. is the first manufacturer to turn to technology. Other major players such as Panasonic and LG Chem are concentrating on materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.
Sodium batteries still face a number of challenges, and at the moment they can hold less energy per unit volume than lithium phosphate batteries, which are widely used in China.
Companies around the world are vying to reduce the cost of manufacturing electric vehicles in order to match their price with that of traditional internal combustion engine models. UBS Group estimates that because of the batteries and the electric motor, an electric car costs $ 4,000 more to produce. But analysts at the Swiss bank are confident that by the middle of the decade the gap will melt.
Only the VW Golf is ahead of the Tesla Model 3 in sales in Europe
Electric cars are enjoying growing interest
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CATL, the world’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles, says sodium batteries will also be able to be used to store electricity for the power grid.
The price of sodium is far lower than that of lithium. Other advantages of the new technology include faster charging and better performance at low outdoor temperatures.
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