https://cen.acs.org/business/inorganic-chemicals/Sodium-comes-battery-world/100/i19I dont think Sodium Batteries will replace Lithium personally. They both have different applications and I see Lithium being the best option in terms of long range travel at a higher cost. Sodium batteries appear to be better for short journeys and is cheaper but that cheap cost would be somewhat erroded by your recharge rate which would be more frequent on a lower range vehicle and also the fact the battery life is shorter so a replacement comes sooner. Almost a case of you get what you pay for. There are other positives and negatives to each. Sodium is more abundant, easier to recycle and cheaper being in abundance. Sodium batteries are heavier which is a double edged sword with EV range. The heavier the vehicle the less range you will get out of it. So if you have a lighter weight, higher energy density alternative it will be harder to beat range wise. Recharge rates appear to be about the same Sodium batteries test say 80% in 15-20minutes. Lithium fast charging 100% - 30Mins.
What I personally have not seen yet, which I thought would be a pretty cool idea is the battery recharge stations having in house batteries that simply are replaced on the car. People will probably laugh at the idea but if you have a stock standard car and its battery is an external component as such. If you had some sort of machine that puts your car on some sort of hoist, strips the battery off and puts a new one on it takes 1-2M or as long as refueling a car would take. I guess the issues with my idea here is 1) The cost of this idea to have a stockpile of replaceable batteries at a location 2) The tech required to do such a thing on an EV, 3) The very design of the EV ie if disconnecting the battery messes with the vehicles operations. Like even the idea of a base design battery that has a second storage slot for a "charging battery". That way you can simply drive, go to one of these places, have a quick 1-2min fitout of the second battery which you either use or charges the original.
Ill probably be long dead before the above happens but that way forward seems like a better option. They are after all already doing this with ICE vehicles ie fuel stations have fuel. Ev charging stations should just have replacement batteries.
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