Will electric car batteries be able to do without lithium in the future? At first no Lithium will undoubtedly remain one of the cornerstones of the energy transition that begins in cars. However, many manufacturers are working on new batteries that can do without this raw material.

An interesting alternative is already appearing today. We first saw this on the JAC Sehol E10X, the world’s first car with sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries. Many suppliers are working on this technology, starting with BYD and CATL. The advantage of a sodium-ion battery, this is its lowest production cost compared to lithium battery. But is it technically as efficient as a lithium battery?

Is sodium the best alternative?

Therefore, several analysts continue to believe that the majority of batteries for electric vehicles that will be produced in the next few years will use lithium. In this particular case, it doesn’t matter if it’s a lithium ion battery or a lithium iron phosphate battery.

But the availability of lithium alternatives is already considered a good thing, especially given the growing number of electric vehicles and the multitude of markets that do not necessarily require one type of vehicle. an alternative could allow not only the use of lithium, the reserves of which are not unlimited.

The sodium batteries that power the JAC electric city car are provided by HiNa Battery Technologies, a Chinese startup founded in 2017 after years of incubation at various research institutes. The company has created quite simple batteries in the sense that they are batteries of the first generation.

They are even more expensive than current Li-ion models due to today’s unfavorable economies of scale. However, some experts believe that they will improve significantly over time, both in terms of performance and the manufacturing process. Thus, they will become more attractive from a financial point of view..

Lots of room for improvement

One of the main points of development is obviously the production process. Sodium-ion batteries can be produced on the same production lines as lithium-ion batteries, with obvious advantages in terms of investment. In addition, they can accommodate many technical solutions borrowed from them.

According to BloombergNEF, sodium-ion batteries will soon have the same energy density as lithium iron phosphate batteries (according to these estimates, the energy density of sodium batteries is about 25% lower than that of LFP), and they cost half as much. Remember that LFP batteries are already some of the cheapest on the market. So, Thus, sodium batteries can dramatically reduce the price of electric cars that will be equipped with them.

Add to the credit of sodium batteries that the raw materials are more easily available and distributed in different strategic geographical areas. These batteries are also much more fire resistant, which ensures higher safety standards. However, lithium is not doomed yet. Vice versa.

Why does lithium stay in our batteries?

Battery manufacturers will not rush into the production of sodium-ion batteries alone. Some will specialize (HiNa Battery Technologies is the most striking example, but there is also French Tiamat, American Natron or British Faradion), others – primarily CATL – will diversify.

But none of these suppliers planned to stop their work around lithium-ion batteries for the simple reason that today it is the best price / energy density / performance ratio.

According to several analysts, it is lithium batteries that will continue to power our electric vehicles in the future, sodium batteries will be above all alternatives, in particular, to reduce the prices of individual models.

This pattern is broadly similar to what we’ve seen in heat engines, with the largest and most efficient engines in the most expensive models and the smallest and least efficient in the most affordable cars.