It seems there's a lot of FUD around the high price of lithium...

It seems there's a lot of FUD around the high price of lithium and how it's making EVs unaffordable. The reality is that lithium constitutes a small percentage of the total battery weight of an EV as it is only about 5 to 7 kgs of a 60Kw/h battery. The nickel and cobalt are a much higher cost hence the move by Tesla, CATL and BYD to LFP batteries. This site gives a good outline on the make up of EV batteries. An LFP battery has similar or higher amount of lithium to a lithium ion battery (ternary) but it makes EVs affordable. https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/the-key-minerals-in-an-ev-battery/.

Sodium batteries are meant to perform better than lithium in freezing temperatures which is one of the reasons it's seen as an option for the northern hemisphere.

For the next big thing in batteries, I think that lithium sulphur is looking pretty good in about 5 years. Lyten in the US is now producing cells that are being tested by OEMs in the automotive and aero industries. These are around the 900 wh/kg energy density mark which is about 2.5 times the best lithium ion battery currently available plus perform in freezing temps. There are plenty of videos of interviews with the Lyten CEO and senior technical staff who provide very good information on their technology and how it will bring battery costs well below ICE production costs. Theion in Germany and LIS energy in Australia are also developing lithium sulphur batteries, but they seem to be one step behind Lyten and have less detail about their batteries. The website you linked about the sodium battery released a video about progress at Lyten a couple of weeks ago with the caption 'Lithium ion outperformed again!'