JAC Motors, a Volkswagen-backed Chinese automaker, unveiled the first mass-produced EV with a sodium-ion battery through its new Yiwei brand. Although sodium-ion battery tech has a lower density than lithium-ion, its lower costs, simpler and more abundant supplies and superior cold-weather performance could help accelerate mass EV adoption.
  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    A quick wikipedia read implies that sodium-ion batteries could be half or less the cost vs lithium. Also this:

    Another factor is that cobalt, copper and nickel are not required for many types of sodium-ion batteries, and more abundant iron-based materials work well in Na+ batteries.

    That’s probably most of why it’s cheaper, and it’s also way less damaging to the environment if they truly can be made from mostly sodium and iron.

    I’m more concerned about the safety aspects. It seems there are two main types:

    • aqueous - quite safe, but also likely very heavy per unit of energy
    • carbon - high risk (probably similar to lithium)

    That’s a big reason why I and probably many others aren’t interested in the current batch of EVs. Yeah they’re pretty safe, but they’re quite violent when they fail. I’d probably buy a sodium-ion EV if it could get 100-150 miles range reliably. That would be absolutely sufficient for my commute, even in the winter, and it would make a fantastic “around town” car when I’m not working.